Drivers relieved to see Uber stay

Photo archive, Zechariah Goudreault
The student of haitian origin, Peter Kings, which has been working for a year for Uber, was afraid of getting into debt if the multinational were to leave the province.

Vincent Larin

Friday, 13 October 2017 21:31

UPDATE
Friday, 13 October 2017 21:31

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Drivers for Uber are relieved that the multinational decides to stay in Quebec because they lived in fear of losing their main income from one day to the other.

“I was sure that they would remain on their position of leaving the province of Quebec, it makes me very happy to learn that they are going to stay,” said a driver partner for Uber, Mathieu Visser.

The american multinational has done an about-face Friday, announcing that they chose to remain in Quebec, even if the government of Philippe Couillard still requires that drivers follow a training course of 35 hours.

Training

This latter condition was, however, one of the main reasons behind the threat of the company leaving the province of Quebec, which was to take effect this Saturday.

Drivers who enroll in the service after the 14 October will have until 14 January 2018 to comply.

Those who were already drivers before this date will benefit from a grandfather clause and will not have to follow the one-week training.

“I have no problem to follow this training, but I think it will not change anything to the quality of service that it already offers,” said of his side, Peter Kings, a driver for Uber.

Also studying industrial mechanics, he was afraid of getting into debt in the event that the company were leaving Quebec and that he was losing his job.

New minister

According to Uber, the appointment of André Fortin as the new minister of Transport will put in place a dialogue with the government.

“There is an opportunity to establish a constructive dialogue to find a long-term solution for users and partner-drivers,” said the director general of Uber Quebec, Jean-Nicolas Guillemette on Friday.

The minister Fortin said Friday that a period of eight weeks will be allowed for the drivers enrolled after October 15, to submit to a check of their criminal history, among others.

As for the drivers, they will have up to two years to do it.

— With the QMI Agency