Uber drivers protest in Glasgow over 'unfair' pay

Naveed Akhtar and Amir Humza say they are getting a smaller fraction of private hire fares

Uber drivers have protested outside the company's hub in Glasgow to demand better pay and job protection.

The drivers said their wages had plummeted in the last year despite prices rising for customers, and the company took an unfair slice of the fare.

GMB Scotland, representing the workers, said it was unclear how the company calculated fares and wages and it did not take increased fuel and insurance costs into account.

Uber said its drivers were guaranteed the National Living Wage and it regularly engaged with workers through the union.

A survey of members by the GMB revealed only one in five drivers was earning more now compared to a year ago.

Uber uses surge pricing, where fares rise when demand is higher, and drivers said the company must be more transparent about the system to ensure the increased revenue is fairly shared with them.

Amir Humza, 27, has been working for Uber in Glasgow for a over a year and says job rates are getting lower "day by day".

"Every week it slowly goes down by a few margins rather than up and expenses are getting higher," he said.

The Uber drivers marched down Washington Street in Anderston

"For an airport job, about nine miles from the city centre, you're only getting about £11 but when you speak to the customers, they're charging them around £25.

"And then there's no guarantee you'll get a hire back because it's out the city zone. It's not worth the mileage we're doing for it - it's a bit like slave labour to be honest."

He added: "They just take their percentage and we don't know what the customer is paying, they just offer us a price.

"Some drivers take all the rubbish jobs as well because they'd rather do that than sit about so the rates go down more and more."

'Our income shrank'

He also raised concerns with the new dashboard system, which offers drivers new trips while they have passengers from an ongoing job.

"Normally if they offer you a job, you've got a couple of seconds to accept it and so you're losing concentration on the road as you're driving," he said.

"Other drivers are desperate to make money so you have to act quick to get it and it could be dangerous."

Ewa Zezula-wozniczka said some trips were not worth the mileage

Ewa Zezula-wozniczka, a GMB union representative, said drivers were struggling to earn enough to cover their expenses, including insurance and petrol.

"Everything went up and our income shrank," she told BBC Scotland News.

"We respect our passengers and we would totally love to have every single passenger onboard and take them.

"But we also need to think about our families, our income and how we’ll pay the bills to be able to sustain ourselves."

Vini Sharma said he had to take on other work recently

Glasgow driver Vini Sharma said he had been forced to take on other work as his Uber wages were not enough.

"Everything has gone up, I recently paid £390 for my insurance last month," he said.

"Inflation is high, petrol has gone up - and the job prices are just not fair."

Gerry Mcilveen, 58, has worked for the company in Glasgow since 2016 - but he has spent nearly 20 years driving private hires.

"When you talk to the customer, they're paying top dollar and we're getting a smaller slice," he told BBC Scotland News.

"It just makes you think, where's it going? The wages need to go up.

"The company is making a lot of money, but we're the ones out on the street doing the work."

Veteran driver Gerry Mcilveen said drivers were taking home less

Mr Mcilveen, who is also a union representative for the Glasgow drivers, said Uber needed to improve how it dealt with suspended drivers.

"A lot of people are being suspended and then they are left without work for weeks," he said.

"They've got no other work to go to apart from going to other companies.

"It's not right. If they've got an issue, they should take you in and deal with it. Often it's difficult to actually speak to someone about what's going on."

An Uber spokesperson said: "All drivers on Uber are guaranteed holiday pay, access to a pension plan, free sickness protection and guaranteed National Living Wage – though the vast majority earn more.

"We regularly engage with drivers, including through our national agreement with GMB Union which ensures all drivers have access to full union representation.”