No worker should ever pay to get their wages. It’s pathetic
DELIVERY FIRM BLASTED FOR KEEPING CASH Lib Dem chief calls for action from Amazon
A delivery firm used by Amazon have made a pathetic offer to drivers working weeks without getting paid.
And they face calls to be stripped of their lucrative contract with the internet giants unless they improve their contracts with drivers.
New drivers for UK Express Delivery were asked to put all their wages towards a £ 1500 so- called retainer fund for van hire before they received a penny in wages.
The Sunday Mail revealed how hardpressed employees were left struggling to make ends meet while working for the company, owned by Rolls-Roycedriving businessman Rajesh Chauhan.
Now the f irm have lowered the amount to £ 500 after a string of ex-drivers spoke out.
But workers still face a deduction of £14 a week to use a billing service before they can a cces s any money they have earned.
Chauhan conf irmed the reduced amount in a let ter to Scottish Lib Dem l eader Wi l l i e Rennie, who has been inundated with complaints from former UK Express workers.
But Rennie has cal led on Amazon to cancel their contract with the firm unless the retainer fund is scrapped entirely.
He said: “The UK Express letter is a bit of a contradiction. On the one hand, it denies the retainer is a problem but, on the other hand, reduces the level of the retainer by two-thirds.
“There’s clearly a problem with the retainer and they should abolish it.
“It’s unfair to workers who can earn nothing until they’ve built up the retainer. Workers shouldn’t have to pay to get their own wages.
“UK Express should change their ways or Amazon should cancel their contract.”
UK Express supply drivers to Amazon’s British bases and other companies, earning them millions. The firm’s profits have helped Chauhan afford to live in a £1.4million villa in Birmingham.
UK Express avoid basic employment legislation by taking on workers as self- employed agents. If they hire a van from the firm, they earn £7.55 an hour after deductions – 5p above the national minimum wage. Drivers with their own vans are paid £11.83 an hour.
Former worker Suky Gahier told the Sunday Mail in April that he quit after weeks of stress over delivery targets and was still owed £1282 from his £1500 retainer. He has now been paid the money back but warned other drivers off working for the firm.
Dad-of-one Suky, 36, of Bearsden, near Glasgow, said: “I would say to people, ‘Don’t touch with them a barge pole.’
“I don’t think there’s a need for a retainer. If anyone has any accident, they should be liable for the damage.
“But everyone I worked with was an experienced driver. You shouldn’t have to wait weeks to get paid.”
UK Express boss Chauhan said in a letter to Rennie that over the past three months drivers spent an average of 9.2 hours a day and worked four days a week