Shuttle drivers at Apple, other Silicon Valley tech companies vote for Teamsters representation
In the ongoing Silicon Valley shuttle bus saga, contracted drivers serving five local tech firms, including Apple, voted on Friday to seek representation by the Teamsters union.
A total of 158 bus drivers working for Compass Transportation, which holds contracts with Apple, eBay, Genentech, Yahoo and Zynga, voted to seek higher wages through Teamsters representation, reports The Wall Street Journal. The vote, which must be certified by the National Labor Relations Board, saw a final count of 104-38 in favor of joining the union.
According to Teamsters Local 853 International vice president and secretary-treasurer Rome Aloise, the drivers "voted to be part of a rising tide to improve wages, benefits and working conditions of those who support the tech industry."
Word of a potential unionization effort came last month when Compass employees signed union authorization cards, signaling intent to support the initiative.
Today's news comes on the heels of a similar vote involving drivers for Loop Transportation, the firm responsible for operating Facebook shuttles, who accepted contract terms negotiated by the Teamsters. Drivers previously made about $18 to $20 an hour, but the union successfully negotiated terms that will bring more flexible working conditions and wage raises to $24.50 an hour over a three-year period.
The huge wage gap between contract workers and the high-income tech employees they serve has become a hot button issue in the San Francisco Bay Area. According to the publication, skill positions at Silicon Valley companies command median yearly incomes of about $119,000, while non-skill jobs rate about $27,000.
A total of 158 bus drivers working for Compass Transportation, which holds contracts with Apple, eBay, Genentech, Yahoo and Zynga, voted to seek higher wages through Teamsters representation, reports The Wall Street Journal. The vote, which must be certified by the National Labor Relations Board, saw a final count of 104-38 in favor of joining the union.
According to Teamsters Local 853 International vice president and secretary-treasurer Rome Aloise, the drivers "voted to be part of a rising tide to improve wages, benefits and working conditions of those who support the tech industry."
Word of a potential unionization effort came last month when Compass employees signed union authorization cards, signaling intent to support the initiative.
Today's news comes on the heels of a similar vote involving drivers for Loop Transportation, the firm responsible for operating Facebook shuttles, who accepted contract terms negotiated by the Teamsters. Drivers previously made about $18 to $20 an hour, but the union successfully negotiated terms that will bring more flexible working conditions and wage raises to $24.50 an hour over a three-year period.
The huge wage gap between contract workers and the high-income tech employees they serve has become a hot button issue in the San Francisco Bay Area. According to the publication, skill positions at Silicon Valley companies command median yearly incomes of about $119,000, while non-skill jobs rate about $27,000.
Comments
Fix your headline. This has NOTHING to do with Apple, Google, etc., and everything to do with Compass Transportation.
What next AI? Gonna post news when workers at a company that supplies toilet paper to Apple's bathrooms are gonna unionize too?
Jeez... click bait.
"A total of 158 bus drivers working for Compass Transportation..."
Fix your headline. This has NOTHING to do with Apple, Google, etc., and everything to do with Compass Transportation.
What next AI? Gonna post news when workers at a company that supplies toilet paper to Apple's bathrooms are gonna unionize too?
Jeez... click bait.
Yep, these are NOT Apple employees. They work for Compass Transportation. Yet this article clearly implies they are Apple workers.
It makes sense to test bed this first.
"A total of 158 bus drivers working for Compass Transportation..."
Fix your headline. This has NOTHING to do with Apple, Google, etc., and everything to do with Compass Transportation.
What next AI? Gonna post news when workers at a company that supplies toilet paper to Apple's bathrooms are gonna unionize too?
Jeez... click bait.
Well, very soon all Apple inter-campus transport will be automated :-), so they won't have to worry about those darn unions anyway.
"A total of 158 bus drivers working for Compass Transportation..."
Fix your headline. This has NOTHING to do with Apple, Google, etc., and everything to do with Compass Transportation.
What next AI? Gonna post news when workers at a company that supplies toilet paper to Apple's bathrooms are gonna unionize too?
Jeez... click bait.
Moreover, AI can't spell "valley" correctly.
The headline should read "Drivers for a [or another] Silicon Valley shuttle bus operator vote for Teamsters representation"
not the atrociously worded and spelling challenged
"Shuttle drivers at Apple, other Silicon Vally [sic] tech companies vote for Teamsters representation"
The drivers aren't at Apple. They drive wherever their employer tells them to go.
But hey. This is good evidence of the thought and care of AI's editorial staff. Just yesterday, we say them bungle their reporting on iCloud and Apple ID registration.
Appalling.
No doubt, Obama and the Democrats would love the bus drivers to be earning the same as the tech workers, as he forges the USA into a communist outpost of China.
Well that escalated quickly.
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Paige . I just agree... Heather `s article is inconceivable... yesterday I got a new Lexus LS400 after having made $7767 this munth and over ten k lass month . it's realy the coolest job I have ever had . I began this eight months/ago and right away got me more than $71 per hour . Look At This
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That's fantastic... BUT how much do the Union's get over the 3 years ??? Shitload more than $24.50/hr I bet. Looks like your Tech Transportation is about to become as pathetic as your CA Wharf's/Dock's. Nothing like having a Union to screw up business. They are nothing more than self interested, standover people, blackmailing American Companies.
Apple isn't losing any sleep over this. $18 or $24...whatever. The cost of doing business is passed on to the consumer. If union employees servicing Apple employees bothers you, move to SF and start your own competing non-union transportation company and bid for the tech company contracts.
No doubt, Obama and the Democrats would love the bus drivers to be earning the same as the tech workers, as he forges the USA into a communist outpost of China.
Well that escalated quickly.
Until otherwise proven, I choose to believe he's joking...
Why don't they find high-tech jobs if they want to get paid as much as high-tech jobs are paying? This is ridiculous.
Want better wages? Go fking school and get a degree. Education doesn't come cheap and easy.
...wow
Oh boy. Here we go.
Right yeah? These posters have no idea what they are talking about. $25 an hour is $50K a year if you work full time 40 hours a week but drivers seldom do. Then deduct union dues, your own commuting costs and it is hardly a living wage in the bay area. High-tech workers in SF are making 120K+ with a degree in computer science. There is literally no comparison. I'm pretty sure most drivers are just scraping by.
I'd rather my driver wasn't working a second eight hour shift as a clerk at 7-11 before he dozed off behind the wheel of my shuttle.
Maybe "descended" is more like it.