ITF affiliate the Teamsters say that the vast majority of drivers can’t afford to support their family, send their children to school or buy a house anywhere near where they work.
They have a dawn start to the bus yard before picking up Facebook employees in San Francisco and dropping them at Menlo Park, then have down time from 11am to 5pm, when they start collecting Facebook staff.
The drivers claim that company rules bar them from taking other part-time employment during those long-waiting hours, so most are forced to stay at the bus yard in their cars or at the company trailer, which lacks heat or air conditioning.
ITF-affiliate the Teamsters in the USA wants as many signatures as possible to an email it is sending to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to make him aware of the drivers’ plight. The drivers have twice sought representation by Teamsters Local 853 to improve their livelihoods but the union reports that Facebook contractor Loop Transportation has refused to recognise the Teamsters.
Mac Urata, ITF inland transport secretary, commented: “No workers should have to hang around aimlessly for hours like this. They want to join the union, and they have the right to join the union. I hope many ITF unions will take this simple action to help get a positive result for the Facebook drivers and to help them win the representation they so clearly want.”
The ITF urges all unions to stand in solidarity with the Facebook drivers and to spread the message via Facebook and Twitter.
