nasun taxi drivers sign an agreement ending a strike on Sunday

Vinasun taxi drivers ended a city-wide strike Sunday after the Ho Chi Minh City company agreed to allow them more money.

Managers at Anh Duong Joint Stock Co., known as Vinasun, also apologized to the drivers, who had launched a wildcat strike last Tuesday.

Truong Dinh Quy, deputy general director of Vinasun, said the company’s managers had behaved improperly.

Truong Lam Danh, vice chairman of HCMC Labor Union, said if Vinasun were to renege on its new promise to increase drivers’ earnings, the drivers could ask the union to bring the company to court.

The company met with representatives of the motorists on Friday, offering to increase their share of the takings by 1 percent.

But the drivers rejected the deal, saying the higher income would still not provide enough money for daily expenditures.

The strike began Tuesday when hundreds of drivers parked their taxis in rows on several District 7 and Binh Tan District streets. On Thursday, the drivers demonstrated in front of the company’s headquarters on Dien Bien Phu Street with banners and around 250 taxi cabs.

Drivers said they had been promised 55 percent of the daily collection, but the company had cut the ratio to 51 percent, citing the economic crisis and higher gas prices.

However the drivers argued that they, and not the company, were paying for the gas.

Their monthly incomes had dropped from VND5-7 million (US$278-389) each to VND3-4 million, depending on the size of their vehicles, they said.

Source: Tuoi Tre