Unionization efforts in Silicon Valley notched another win over the weekend when shuttle drivers for Apple, Evernote, Genentech, Yahoo, Zynga and other firms voted unanimously to approve a three-year contract proposed by the Teamsters Union.
So what’s next for the labor movement given its recent successes?
One front to watch: contract drivers who are part of the so-called “on demand” economy. In July, 140 contract drivers for Google Express filed for organized representation with the Teamsters, Recode reported.
Another may be contract workers in other sectors. Luxe Valet in July began the process of converting its contract workers into employees, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The latest labor victory came over the weekend, when drivers working for Compass Transportation, which provides the shuttle service for several tech companies, approved a contract that would raise their pay, make them eligible for overtime and paid holidays and offered other benefits, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Now Compass will take the contract to their client firms. Genentech told the Journal that it already advised Compass that “that we support implementation of the higher wages agreed to with its employee union effective immediately.”
Apple told the Journal it was working with several driver firms to increase pay.
Should the companies welcome the terms of the new contract, the Teamsters will have succeeded in raising pay for many shuttle drivers. In February, Facebook shuttle drivers working for Loop Transportation approved a contract that included pay as much as $27.50 an hour.
Photo Credit: Teamsters members rally outside Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park on Nov. 18, 2014, in support of tech shuttle bus drivers who wanted to unionize. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
