Pay boost for cab drivers

By Yang Lifei  |   2008-11-21  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

CAB companies have promised taxi drivers in Chongqing Municipality that they will pay a 50-yuan (US$7.31) bonus a day to each car, after cabbies staged a two-day strike earlier this month, according to Chongqing Morning Post.

The agreement is retroactive to November 5, two days after the strike started in the city's downtown area.

Under the new policy, two drivers who share the same taxi, can each earn an extra 25 yuan a day if neither has a serious traffic violation or passenger complaint.

Drivers will get an additional bonus from the company for good deeds. However, drivers will be dismissed if their service is deemed inferior, the report said.

Taxi drivers can collect the allowance on the last day of each month, according to Peng Yingji, director of the Chongqing Taxi Industry Association.

"The policy enables taxi drivers to earn 500 yuan more every month. If their employers fail to pay the fee, drivers can complain to local trade unions," Peng was quoted as saying.

Li Jun, executive vice chairman of Chongqing's federation of trade unions, said the new regulation will only be carried out in urban areas, but that they hope to expand it to rural areas in the future.

The municipality has 16,000 licensed cabs with almost 9,000 in urban areas, the report said.

Licensed drivers launched the strike on November 3 to protest about insufficient supplies of compressed natural gas, which fuels most cabs in the city, as well as competition from unlicensed cabs, high fines for traffic violations and the unfair division of fares between drivers and companies.

On November 10, Chongqing launched a campaign to crack down on unlicensed cabs, which would last three months.