Kitz I understand the view you coming from, and I personally dont like the way things are going with costs and wages, but it is what it is, we are a capitalist country.
The only rights people have in this country to wages is the minimum wage, and thats it, as long as cabbies get more then that then they have no legal argument on that basis, a moral one maybe, but not legal.
Where i disagree is the idea that black cabs are a better service, and people only flock down to uber for ££ and no other reason, I think its already been explained in both threads there is other reasons to use uber aside from cost. also uber's surge charging makes them more expensive than competitors at times, but they still get the business at those prices.
I find myself agreeing with ronski that the prime reason for the actions in london seem to be to protect the livelyhood of the black cab drivers rather than concerns for so called safety. The black cab drivers may find if they setup their own app, GPS tracking, booking service, and stop using meters and move to pre announced pricing then they may fare much better, even if they charge similar prices to what they do now. They just need to adapt. This is coming across from them as trying to protect a status quo and preventing an industry from modernising. There will always be people who continue to use their services as is, generally I see their prime market as affluent people who need to move around different parts of london for their work and are ok with hailing cabs. The customers they in danger of losing is those not so affluent and like the convenience of pre booking and paying on phone.