Apple shuttlebus drivers vote in favor of first contract after unionization

AppleInsider

More than 30 drivers who ferry Apple employees to work from off-site parking will not only get previously negotiated wage increases, but will be granted health benefits, pension contributions, vacation time, and overtime.

The drivers work for Loop Transportation, and are affiliated with Teamsters' Local 853. The union represents shuttle drivers for tech companies Apple, eBay, Evernote, Facebook, Google, PayPal, and Yahoo.

In 2015, drivers began to speak out against tech companies in Silicon Valley. Initial complaints centered around unpaid downtime in between routes driven in the morning and evening. The downtime problem has been addressed in this contract, and is considered paid time.

The Teamsters' contract was initially approved and submitted in August 2015.

Before the 25 percent rate hike for Apple drivers in March 2015, prior to unionization, drivers averaged around $27,000 per year. "The pay increases are so significant to these people," said Rome Aloise, Teamsters International vice president and Local 853 principal officer. "They're life-changing."

ktappe

Good for them. Don't let anyone tell you unions no longer have a place in our society; this is proof they do.

dasanman69

Good for them. 

vincechoi

Small inconvenience for the tech companies until the drivers are replace by autonomous vehicles. But yeah hurray for them!

redraider11

Complaining about unpaid downtime? If you're not working, then why should you get paid??? These leaches days are numbered. No wonder we ship manufacturing jobs overseas and are trying to automate everything. 

truthintech

AppleInsider said:

More than 30 drivers who ferry Apple employees to work from off-site parking will not only get previously negotiated wage increases, but will be granted health benefits, pension contributions, vacation time, and overtime.

The drivers work for Loop Transportation, and are affiliated with Teamsters' Local 853. The union represents shuttle drivers for tech companies Apple, eBay, Evernote, Facebook, Google, PayPal, and Yahoo.

In 2015, drivers began to speak out against tech companies in Silicon Valley. Initial complaints centered around unpaid downtime in between routes driven in the morning and evening. The downtime problem has been addressed in this contract, and is considered paid time.

The Teamsters' contract was initially approved and submitted in August 2015.

Before the 25 percent rate hike for Apple drivers in March 2015, prior to unionization, drivers averaged around $27,000 per year. "The pay increases are so significant to these people," said Rome Aloise, Teamsters International vice president and Local 853 principal officer. "They're life-changing."

This is what companies negotiated so good if both parties feel it's fair. However, article is misleading in that "average wages" were based on many part time workers. Actual hourly wage was $18.00 per hour. Not commenting on good or bad of wage, but on annual basis was closer to 40K if worked full time and now is over 50K for full time.

Also left out is that while large and wealthy companies are paying more, large and wealthy union is making around $900 per year in union dues from each of these drivers.

spice-boy

Companies which reap in billions of $ per quarter, super inflate housing and other cost of living expenses must be willing to pay for workers in that eco-system a fair living wage. Cities like New York and SF are insanely expensive and many many non white collar workers pay 60-70% of the income to rent. Unions were / are fundamental in creating a middle class, as union's power dissolved over the past 3 decades so have good blue collar wages and a growing middle class. This is a small victory but hopefully in this time of extreme division of wealth people will embrace the unions again as a tool to bring back living wages. 

redraider11

spice-boy said:

Companies which reap in billions of $ per quarter, super inflate housing and other cost of living expenses must be willing to pay for workers in that eco-system a fair living wage. Cities like New York and SF are insanely expensive and many many non white collar workers pay 60-70% of the income to rent. Unions were / are fundamental in creating a middle class, as union's power dissolved over the past 3 decades so have good blue collar wages and a growing middle class. This is a small victory but hopefully in this time of extreme division of wealth people will embrace the unions again as a tool to bring back living wages. 

Those companies aren't forcing you to get jobs in those places. Find a job elsewhere. It's called the free market. 

wmfork

truthintech said:
Actual hourly wage was $18.00 per hour.  Not commenting on good or bad of wage, but on annual basis was closer to 40K if worked full time and now is over 50K for full time. 

If you are going to put that into perspective, then you should also mention that's $40K-50K/yr wage in silicon valley, while the tech workers they are shuttling around are easily making $120-$150K/yr. Whether that's fair or not, realize how much the non-techies are being priced out of living in the place they work.

jakeb

redraider11 said:

spice-boy said:

Companies which reap in billions of $ per quarter, super inflate housing and other cost of living expenses must be willing to pay for workers in that eco-system a fair living wage. Cities like New York and SF are insanely expensive and many many non white collar workers pay 60-70% of the income to rent. Unions were / are fundamental in creating a middle class, as union's power dissolved over the past 3 decades so have good blue collar wages and a growing middle class. This is a small victory but hopefully in this time of extreme division of wealth people will embrace the unions again as a tool to bring back living wages. 

Those companies aren't forcing you to get jobs in those places. Find a job elsewhere. It's called the free market. 

Or band together for collective bargaining power. That's also the free market. 

anton zuykov

wmfork said:

then you should also mention that's $40K-50K/yr wage in silicon valley, while the tech workers they are shuttling around are easily making $120-$150K/yr. Whether that's fair or not, realize how much the non-techies are being priced out of living in the place they work.

It is fair. I don't need to spend 5-8 years in a college in order to learn how to drive a bus. In fact, I can manage that in about several months (at most).

However, for a computer science major, you can't just type in "hello world" program today and be ready for tomorrow's job at Google. That ain't gonna happen.

bestkeptsecret

redraider11 said:

Complaining about unpaid downtime? If you're not working, then why should you get paid??? These leaches days are numbered. No wonder we ship manufacturing jobs overseas and are trying to automate everything. 

Well, to be fair, in the tech industry, especially software, there is downtime when developers are busy sitting on their thumbs. They do get paid still.

Rayz2016

anton zuykov said:

wmfork said:

It is fair. I don't need to spend 5-8 years in a college in order to learn how to drive a bus. In fact, I can manage that in about several months (at most).

However, for a computer science major, you can't just type in "hello world" program today and be ready for tomorrow's job at Google. That ain't gonna happen.

From watching the EU referendum over the past few months, I've come to realise that many of the people I considered 'have nots' turn out to be 'didn't trys'. They're the ones complaining, from the driver's seat of custom sports saloons, about how foreigners are taking their state entitlements. 

jbdragon

ktappe said:

Good for them. Don't let anyone tell you unions no longer have a place in our society; this is proof they do.

Sitting around for hours and getting paid sounds exactly like what UNIONS do!!! Rip off company's. Drive then out of business or force them to leave the country. It's a bus drive. It's almost a zero skill job. If you can drive a car, you can drive a bus. If you don't like your pay, leave and find another job, or startup your own business and see what that is like. Working 80+ hour weeks and making very little money and you try to get your new business going in what is a very hard market to get started in. Since the union is now involved, we'll see them drive themselves right out of a job in a few years.

pbrstreetg

Yeah , I can see tech companies going out of business and leaving the country because bus drivers are being paid $34k.

JasmineJas

Good for them. Don't let anyone tell you unions no longer have a place in our society; this is proof they do.

histnerd

redraider11 said:

Complaining about unpaid downtime? If you're not working, then why should you get paid??? These leaches days are numbered. No wonder we ship manufacturing jobs overseas and are trying to automate everything. 

Many of these drivers work split shifts, driving in the morning and the evening but there is not enough time for them to go home or run errands in between so, although technically not working, they are pretty much forced to stay at the company all day. Since it is a requirement of the job, they should be compensated for this time.

dasanman69

jbdragon said:

ktappe said:

Good for them. Don't let anyone tell you unions no longer have a place in our society; this is proof they do.

Sitting around for hours and getting paid sounds exactly like what UNIONS do!!! Rip off company's. Drive then out of business or force them to leave the country. It's a bus drive. It's almost a zero skill job. If you can drive a car, you can drive a bus. If you don't like your pay, leave and find another job, or startup your own business and see what that is like. Working 80+ hour weeks and making very little money and you try to get your new business going in what is a very hard market to get started in. Since the union is now involved, we'll see them drive themselves right out of a job in a few years.

But you'll change your tune the first time a bus full of techies crashes and burns.