Amsterdam criticized for partnering with Uber

The Amsterdam Economic Board recently announced that taxi service Uber is one of its new partners. The PvdA and SP expressed criticism on this decision and will submit council questions, Het Parool reports.

The Amsterdam Economic Board's goal is to improve innovation and cooperation between businesses, knowledge institutions and the government. The municipal organization aims to make Amsterdam one of the three most innovative regions of Europe by 2025. It is headed by Amsterdam Mayor Eberhard van der Laan and includes Geert ten Dam, the chairman of the University of Amsterdam's executive board, and the CEO's of Randstad, Schiphol and Shell.

According to the PvdA and SP, Uber does not belong in this group because of the various scandals surrounding the service. "In the Netherlands alone we have a lot of problems with this company, such as illegal drivers of Uberpop and problems with contracts of minor employees of Ubereats. In addition it was revealed on Monday that Uber violated Apple's privacy rules, there is sexual intimidation within the company and tax evasion through a construction in the Netherlands. This is just too crazy for words", PvdA councilor Dennis Boutkan said to Het Parool. "Uber is not an example of good employers. I do not understand why this company is accepted as a partner."

Boutkan added that Uber probably only agreed to partner with the municipality so that it can appear positively in the media.