Abu Dhabi Taxi Drivers Risk Visa Cancellation

By Eman Mohammed, Abu Dhabi Deputy Editor (Gulf News)
Published: August 03, 2008, 00:09
Abu Dhabi: Taxi drivers refusing to work in Abu Dhabi until their salary situation is reviewed will have their visas cancelled, said an official. 
Sultan Mohammad Al Shamsi, Director of the Customer Service and Compliance Division at TransAD told Gulf News their problem will be solved within a week but they have to go back to work. 
Those who insist on not working during this time will have their visas cancelled and be blacklisted, TransAD will not deal with them. 
Al Shamsi explained the situation of 68 taxi drivers who visited the Ministry of Labour on Tuesday morning to complain about their work conditions with the newly appointed transportation company Tawasul. "We always tell drivers to report any complaints they have to us because we are working as partners to be successful in the business. We can help them, but they must not stop working," he said.

The minimum salary of taxi drivers is Dh850. Besides, they get medical insurance, a month's leave once a year and accommodation, plus an air ticket allowance, he said. Al Shamsi said: "The drivers came to me saying they have issues with Tawasul, which has set a target of AED200 in a day. They said they cannot ... achieve it. I told them this is a normal target and motivated them".
"Unfortunately the next day they went to the labour office which is fine with us. In the end we are a governmental department too and they will get the same answer from police, the labour office, and TransAD."
TransAD solved a similar situation earlier. "Some drivers wanted their companies to pay traffic fines but they made the mistakes, so they had to pay it," he said. A TransAD representative attended the meeting held at the labour office with the drivers last Wednesday to discuss the matter. Abdullah Qassab, General Manager of Tawasul said the majority of the drivers were still in the training course. "They complained to us individually, not as a group and the situation was dealt with on that basis. We were informed that some went and complained to TransAD. We decided to resolve the matter with their representative," he said.

Expenses
Drivers under training receive when they first come to the country AED 200 as cash advance. It is not claimed for six months so they can meet expenses. They get a salary of AED 660 for the training period. Upon completing their training, they are guaranteed AED 1000 a month as a security blanket. "Whatever money they make over the target is kept as commission, he said. 
Since the summer is slow for taxis, the target is AED 200. During other months the target is AED 250.
"They work 12 hours a day. That's one shift which means effectively that they can achieve AED 450 on average," he said. "After investigations, we found out that those complaining have not been on the road during the hours they should be. They may have been working actually for four to six hours," Qassab said.