Foreign food delivery drivers stage rare strike in Dubai
Foreign food-delivery workers in the United Arab Emirates staged a mass walk-out on Monday, calling for better pay and working conditions in a rare act of industrial action in the Gulf state.
This month, the strike comes after foreign workers forced another food delivery company to suspend plans to cut their earnings after walking off the job in protest against the move.
In the latest stoppage, drivers for Talabat, the Middle East unit of Germany’s Delivery Hero, on Monday evening disrupted services as they refused deliveries in Dubai, the country’s financial centre and a regional trade and tourism hub.
A group of Talabat drivers told Reuters in the early hours of Tuesday morning outside a Dubai restaurant that they had been encouraged to walk out in protest of low pay and working conditions by the success of the Deliveroo strike this month.
Authorities in the UAE, an oil-rich Gulf autocracy where independent trade unions, public protests, and industrial actions are criminalized, did not respond to comment requests.
“If Deliveroo gives this price .. why are we not getting it?” a Pakistani Talabat driver told Reuters, requesting anonymity over fears of reprisals from the company and authorities.
Deliveroo drivers in Dubai earn about $2.79 per delivery.
Alexander Cornwell published this article in Reuters; please click for the whole story.