Taxi company sacks 40 in dispute over wages

An Abu Dhabi taxi company has sacked more than 40 drivers less than four months after they were hired from Sri Lanka and other Asian countries.

Sacked drivers said they had been expelled following their four-day stoppage last week to protest low wages by their employer, Tawasul company.

"We are going home this week. We have been sacked and our UAE driving licences have been taken from us," a Sri Lankan driver said.

"More than 40 of us have been fired, most of whom are from Sri Lanka. The others are from Pakistan, the Philippines and India. They said they are punishing us because we stopped work and complained to the Ministry of Labour."

Company officials declined to comment, saying the problem had been discussed with the ministry.

More than 100 Tawasul drivers converged on the Ministry of Labour last week to complain about poor working conditions. The ministry promised to contact their employers to sort the problem and asked them to resume work.

"More of them could be expelled, while those who accept low wages will stay," another driver said. "The problem is not only the low wage but we have to work more than double the eight-hour daily period specified in our contract. We tried to go again to the ministry but were told that we were wasting our time."

According to the drivers, each of them must pay Dh200 a day to the company plus at least Dh50 for petrol. Their monthly wage is set at Dh1,000 but in case they earn more than Dh250 a day, the extra sum is deducted from their salary.

"That is not what they told us during the interview in Sri Lanka four months ago. How can you make more than Dh250 a day for only eight hours work?" a driver asked.

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