Dear Editor,
I would like to congratulate the Ministry of Labour for a job well done in regularizing standards in workplaces and ensuring that workers receive the benefits they are entitled to.
However, there is a disturbing situation which I would like to bring to the ministry’s attention. Taxi drivers employed by some taxi services, particularly in Georgetown, do not receive a fixed salary. If they have their own vehicles and they are affiliated with a service, they pay $1000 a day for the use of the service (basic fee) and they have to buy gas for their vehicles. If they are employed with the service and use the vehicles the service gives them to operate, they have to pay $3500 per day plus $1000 basic fee. In addition, they have to buy gas and pay to have the vehicle washed. Some of these men are forced to work from six in the morning until three or four o’ clock the next morning to earn something for themselves. That is more than 20 hours of work. These services also demand that the drivers pay the $4500 by midnight. Sometimes that is all the drivers make for the day after paying for gas, and so they are forced to work until the next morning to earn something for themselves.
This is exploitation of human labour. These men should be receiving a salary with overtime pay. There are taxi services too which do not make any PAYE or NIS payments on behalf of these drivers. Many of them have families to maintain and so they are forced to work these gruelling hours, while some of the taxi-service owners live a luxurious lifestyle, and this is just not fair.
I would like to urge Minister of Labour Manzoor Nadir to look into this situation urgently. As I mentioned above, these drivers have no choice, and jobs are hard to find. But that is no excuse for employers to exploit hardworking people.
Yours faithfully,
Vanita Mahadeo
