Teamsters to Facebook: Your drivers deserve a union

Jimmy Maerina

The drivers who shuttle Facebook's high-paid workers to and from work want to join the Teamsters, and they are asking Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg to help them out.

The drivers work from dawn to well past dusk, with six hours at the yard in between shifts. Their employer, Loop Transportation, refuses to recognize the Teamsters as their representative.

Teamsters Local 853 President Rome Aloise sent a letter to Zuckerberg last week. Aloise is also president of Joint Council 7 and an international vice president for the Teamsters.

USA Today reported, 

...the top Teamsters official for Northern California has sent a letter urging Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to "encourage" its contractor to allow the drivers to "bargain a fair contract." 

"It is reminiscent of a time when noblemen were driven around in their coaches by their servants. Frankly, little has changed; except the noblemen are your employees, and the servants are the bus drivers who carry them back and forth each day," Teamsters official Rome Aloise wrote to Zuckerberg. 

This is the second time the Teamsters have tried to organize the Facebook drivers, but the first time the union has gotten a majority of Facebook shuttle drivers to sign cards asking Local 853 to represent them.

Jimmy Maerina told the New York Times, he leaves home at 5 a.m. and returns at 9 p.m.

“You spend 16 hours a day — no time for family, no time for the kids,” Mr. Maerina said. “When I leave home in the morning, my kids are sleeping, and when I get home at 9, they’re done with their homework.” 

Mr. Maerina, who earns $18 an hour and was out temporarily with an injury, said his 51-passenger bus had been attacked by San Francisco residents who resent highly paid high-tech workers pushing up rents and gentrifying neighborhoods, forcing out some longtime residents. “It’s very hard for me to make ends meet,” he added. “Housing costs are crazy in the Bay Area.”

Read the letter sent by Brother Aloise at http://ibt.io/finkd.

California bill to make employers responsible for temp hires moves forward in Legislature

The Teamsters bill to establish joint employer liability for employers when their temporary agencies break California labor laws passed the Assembly Floor with 45 votes.

That's the great news from Brother Doug Bloch, political director for Teamsters Joint Council 7 in California.

You may remember how Teamsters and Taylor Farms workers lobbied lawmakers earlier this month on the bill. Here's a picture:

Brother Doug continued:

This was a tremendous collective effort on the part of many of our Joint Council 7 and 42 Local unions.  We really saw what happens when our Locals get involved in politics on the local level -- making endorsements and DRIVE contributions -- and how that helped us influence legislators.  We reached out to legislators in their districts, making a big difference. 

Furthermore, in our effort to connect organizing and legislation, we put Taylor Farms and their temporary agencies front and center in this fight, with workers and Teamsters hitting the capitol on three separate lobby days, mobilizing over 100 people.  The bravery of Taylor Farms workers and the horror stories they told led some opponents of the bill to distance themselves from Taylor Farms as a "bad actor" in this industry. 

Next we move on to the Senate.  A great effort so far with more work to come!

Looking forward to another Teamster victory!