Abu Dhabi: A unified labour contract will come into force today for taxi drivers in Abu Dhabi, which will reduce the number of job related complaints, officials announced on Monday.
The new contract will ensure that a taxi driver gets a basic salary of Dh800 (for earning a minimum revenue of Dh6,000) and accommodation, as well as commission, officials from the Ministry of Labour (MoL) and TransAD, the taxi regulatory authority in Abu Dhabi told reporters after signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
The new contract will be mandatory for all new taxi drivers who will be recruited from Tuesday, they said. "For the existing 6,386 drivers, it is optional for them to make a new contract until the expiry of the existing contracts. But after the expiry of the existing contracts, the new unified contract will be mandatory for all drivers," the officials said.
The new contract is not applicable for drivers of old gold and white taxis which are being phased out. Humaid Rashid Bin Deemas, Executive Manager of Labour Affairs at MoL, and Masoud Mohammad Hashim, acting general manager of TransAD, signed the MoU at the MoL office in Abu Dhabi. "We used to receive several complaints from taxi drivers [labour disputes], I hope the number of complaints will go down thanks to the unified contracts," Deemas said.
Taxi drivers had a mixed response to the new move. Some of them welcomed it, saying that taxi companies cannot dictate arbitrary terms. "Now contractual terms are clear and transparent," said Ahmad, a Pakistani driver. "The new move will not make much difference because still there will be pressure on drivers as they have to work long hours to earn the commission," Baiju, an Indian driver said.
Taxis will not occupy parking lots as accommodations move out
The parking lots in the city will not be occupied by the taxis very soon as the accommodation of the taxi drivers will be moved out of the Abu Dhabi island, TransAD said. "Following the complaints from residents on taxis occupying parking lots at night , the government has already passed a law to move the accommodation of drivers", Masoud Mohammad Hashim said.
But, the TransAD has granted a grace period to some franchises ,considering their practical difficulties. However , all accommodations will be moved out of the city by the end of this year, he said.
The unified contract will ensure that companies provide accommodation to the drivers in designated areas, Hashim said. Some companies used to give just Dh 500 as accommodation allowance, giving the freedom to drivers to stay wherever they want., he said. "Such practices will be stopped".
