Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1525176
8 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 11 AUGUST 2024 OPINION Exposed: The hidden cost of hailing a cab THE cab driving industry has been the subject of recent debate, plastered onto social media plat- forms and newspaper articles, in light of the government's recent decision to no longer accept work permit applications for cab drivers and food couriers. This has been a long-awaited decision, clamping down on abu- sive business practices by certain players in the market. This sector has been built on modern-day ex- ploitation, characterised by artifi- cially low prices that was steering towards a point of no return. As a cab driver and president of an association represent- ing self-employed operators, I have followed closely the state- ments made by the Prime Min- ister, about the saturation point reached by the cab industry. The facts are blatantly evident and vis- ible to anyone willing to look. The Prime Minister's statements, were a frank admission of the truth, and a welcome one. I have been a cab driver for a bet- ter part of a decade. The industry has shifted from self-employed operators working flexible hours with a decent income, to an in- dustry built on select fleets taking over the market with the 'impor- tation' of third country nationals, leading to modern-day slavery. 'Importation', although a crude word, is the most suitable one giv- en the circumstances. The third country worker working in this industry has become like a rat on a wheel, being imported to this country with a brand-new cab ready to go. In turn, the unlimit- ed influx of cabs had flooded the streets and saturated the market with unscrupulous working con- ditions. This is not an issue of race. The workers themselves are not to blame for this predicament. If an- ything, it's the unscrupulous way in which the big players have ex- ploited the unregulated market. Other issues are also at play, such as the suspicious 50:50 commis- sion relationships between fleets and their drivers, as well as lack of enforcement on the garaging re- quirements for Y-Plate operators. In order to hold an Operator's License and operate a Y-Plate, one must show that they have a 24/7 dedicated garaging space at their disposal to house the vehicle when not in use. Numerous fleets have structured an enterprise based on the illegitimate exploitation of drivers and the illegal parking of vehicles around the Maltese roads. One questions how many garages do such fleets have at their dispos- al in order to house a Y-plate vehi- cle, let alone 300. Healthy compe- tition is something we have always welcomed, in any industry, but it is clear as day that such measures do not foster healthy competition. If anything, they have anticompet- itive effects. The 50:50 commission relation- ship, is a compensation structure that raises suspicions to say the least. At face value, nothing seems wrong with this structure. The more you work, the more you earn. Similarly, to any job, longer hours lead to higher pay, but this commission relationship has been intricately crafted and perfected for this sector. This structure is guised as a performance guaran- tee, but it is much more than that. How can a worker be employed to work as a full-time driver with a monthly salary and at the same time be compensated through a 50:50 model (50% for the driver and 50% for the fleet)? Let's say a worker has an em- ployment contract with a monthly base salary for minimum wage. In actual fact, the worker is earning much more than a base minimum wage with a 50:50 commission re- lationship, but the rest are classi- fied as after tax expenses/ bonus- es. So how can the worker declare a monthly minimum wage when in actual fact, he is earning twice as much if not more on a revenue sharing model? This is a recipe for tax avoidance, and circumventing the conditions of a single work permit to an exploitative model of working inhumane hours with an illegitimate commission-based model. This is an illegitimate and destructive model with significant anti-competitive repercussions. This is not just an issue of em- ployment relations and workers' rights: This is also a road-safety issue. Overworking your employ- ees, and depriving them of any economic safety net, will certain- ly affect any individual's ability to abide by traffic regulations, and maintain their safety, with the hope of earning more money. The more hours you spend on the wheel, the more you get paid. The crackdown on such ex- ploitative tactics by enforcement bodies such as the police, Trans- port Malta, JobsPlus and Identità is also a welcome one. It is time to look ahead and ensure a level playing field for all, and rebuilding the sector with much needed en- forcement and legislative reforms. This recent decision by the gov- ernment on third country nation- als has evoked mixed reactions, most being predominantly pos- itive; yet some responses have been deeply troubling, revealing Aron Gatt Aron Gatt is president of the Light Passenger Operators Association (LPOA), an association representing self-employed cab operators The industry has shifted from self- employed operators working flexible hours with a decent income, to an industry built on select fleets taking over the market with the 'importation' of third country nationals, leading to modern-day slavery.