Deliveroo backs down on wage cut after strike by Dubai workers

FOOD-DELIVERY DRIVERS protesting against wage cuts and gruelling working conditions went on a rare strike in Dubai over the weekend.

The mass walkout paralysed one of the country’s main delivery apps and revived concerns about working conditions in the emirate.

The strike started late on Saturday and ended early yesterday, when Deliveroo agreed in a letter to riders to restore workers’ pay to £2.22 per delivery instead of the proposed rate of £1.89 that had ignited the work stoppage, as the company tried to cut costs amid surging fuel prices. The firm also backtracked on its plan to extend working shifts to 14 hours a day.

Strikes remain illegal in the United Arab Emirates, an autocratic federation of seven sheikhdoms that bans unions and criminalises dissent.

Delivery workers in Dubai, who became a mainstay in the financial hub as demand boomed during the pandemic, have few protections.

To reduce costs, companies like Deliveroo outsource bikes, logistics and responsibility to contracting agencies – a labour pipeline that prevails across Gulf Arab states and can lead to mistreatment. Many impoverished migrants are plunged into debt paying their contractors exorbitant visa fees to secure their jobs.

“It is clear that some of our original intentions have not been clear and we are listening to riders,” Deliveroo said in a statement to The Associated Press.

“We have therefore currently paused all changes and will be working with our agency riders to ensure we have a structure that works for everyone.”

The food delivery service is valued at more than £6.37bn.

News of the pay cut at Deliveroo, announced internally last week as the cost of fuel soars, was devastating for 30-year-old driver Mohammadou Labarang, barely scraping by, with a wife and seven-month-old son in Cameroon to support.