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Teamsters Seek To Unionize More Tech Shuttle Bus Drivers In Silicon Valley 301

Posted by samzenpus from the shuttle-together dept.
An anonymous reader writes with news about the effort to unionize shuttle drivers in Silicon Valley. "Shuttle bus drivers for five prominent tech companies will decide whether to unionize on Friday in a vote that has the potential to dramatically expand organized labor's territory in Silicon Valley and embolden others in the tech industry's burgeoning class of service workers to demand better working conditions. Drivers who ferry Yahoo, Apple, Genentech, eBay and Zynga workers -- all employed by contractor Compass Transportation -- will decide whether to join the Teamsters union in an election overseen by the National Labor Relations Board. Union leaders say they want to bring the drivers into the fold so they can negotiate better pay and benefits -- as well as relief from a split shift that has the drivers working morning and evening shifts with no pay in between. A contract the Teamsters struck over the weekend for Facebook's shuttle bus drivers, who work for Loop Transportation, offers a glimpse of what may be possible: paid sick and vacation time, full health care coverage and wages of up to $27.50 an hour."
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Teamsters Seek To Unionize More Tech Shuttle Bus Drivers In Silicon Valley More

Teamsters Seek To Unionize More Tech Shuttle Bus Drivers In Silicon Valley

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  • That is okay (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 27, 2015 @04:16AM (#49145131)

    Before too long we won't need the bus drivers. Automated cars will smash the unions

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by gl4ss ( 559668 )

      the blurb says for 5 companies.
      then it says it's drivers from 1 company.

      if it becomes a problem, it's really because the the companies decided to outsource the service, to save up, possibly to avoid paying their negotiated employee benefits and such.

    • Re:That is okay (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 27, 2015 @04:59AM (#49145263)

      1) Unions are collective bargaining. Collective bargaining forms the basis for an intelligent, social civilisastion. Some unions are good for workers, campaigning for an end to the dire conditions found themselves enduring through early C20, and others are corrupt and useless (in Western Europe I have rarely found a harmful union, but the US is so hardline capitalist that even some of its unions end up top-heavy), but saying "smash the unions!" is like shouting "GMO is evil!" - it's a nonsense blanket statement by an anti-science ideologue;

      2) Soon sufficient automation will make you unemployed. Be careful what you wish for, because it's only hubris that's keeping you confident. Unless you're a multimillionaire you're not secure, and a sufficiently small handful of multimillionaires in an automated utopia will soon find nobody is interested in protecting their wealth.

      • Re:That is okay (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 27, 2015 @08:22AM (#49145785)

        "smash the unions!" is like shouting "GMO is evil!"

        Right now, at this time, people and small business (and thus the economy) are losing a lot of money because unions are closing down the docks in major ports. Why? Because they want their uneducated box-pushers who are already earning 147k a year, to make even more [usatoday.com]. Did you read that? People who did not invest in any degree, dropped out of high school and got a job at the docks earning 147k a year, and are now demanding more. Demanding more by crippling the rest of the economy. Are you kidding me?

        TFA even says:

        "Now is the opportunity for shuttle bus drivers, for food service workers, for janitors, for security officers to re-ask the question: Should I be equally as valued as the high tech workers in the high tech industry?" said David Huerta, president of United Service Workers West.

        Really? I mean, really? Are you seriously expecting an employee without a high school diploma doing the most simple job in the world to earn the same income as someone with a Master's degree or PHD? Really? That's just plain nonsense. Remember that all they do is drive a vehicle from A to B. Something that all of us do on a very regular basis.

        Let's for a moment look at a Bay Area without bus drivers. There would be a bit more cars on the road so it would take me an hour to get to work instead of 40 minutes. And perhaps I'd work from home a bit more.

        Now let's see what would happen to Apple, Google or Facebook if there would be no software engineers. Oh wait, I forgot. There would be no Apple, Google, or Facebook.

        Is it really that weird that tech companies pay their high value tech employees more than the average bus driver?

        The one thing that I agree with, and I agree with that very strongly, is that everyone who has a full time job should be able to earn a living wage and get healthcare benefits. Every single bus driver, every single janitor, every single security guard should be able to put a roof over their head, buy some nice toys for their kids and go to Disneyland once in a while. So in that sense, I do agree with the outcome of the process, and even think that the $27,50 is a bit low. $35 would be better and fair, considering the housing market in the Bay area.

        But they should also realize that if they had done better in school (no, that English major does not count), they could have had a tech job as well. It takes 16+ years of education to get a Master's degree. It takes less than 16 months to get a commercial driver's license. That fact is embedded in tech workers wages.

        • Re:That is okay, the end is nigh! (Score:5, Insightful)

          by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 27, 2015 @08:47AM (#49145891)

          > It takes 16+ years of education to get a Master's degree. It takes less than 16 months to get a commercial driver's license. That fact is embedded in tech workers wages.

          Someone with education of a Master's degree messes up work: sorry for the bug, we'll release a hotfix patch or a service pack soon, we thank you for your patience in the while!

          Someone with commercial driver's license messes up work: CNN breaking news, schoolbus careens into river, two dozen kids missing. In other news, 18-wheeler carrying barrels of concentrated fluoric acid explodes upon collision with town hall, 20 dead, 750 citizens evacuated, national guard mobilized, FEMA sets up local command centre.

          It is also not OK that LGBT hairdressers earn seven figures a year, while garbage collectors earn 15 USD / hour. No garbage collection => megacity soon depopulated by diseases. No LBGT hairdresser => put a pot over your head and cut off what sticks out! The free world / western / americanized capitalist society is totally fsck'ed up when it comes to moral values and labour relations. The managers become little divine kings in their palaces and luxury sedans and flying chariot, while many common people become more and more like peasants or even serfs. The decadent and hedonistic first world is heading to a crash soon, one which will eclipse that of ancient Roman Empire.

          After that comes a new Dark Age, where the equally insane asian-despotic, planned economy regime principle will be the celebrated leitmotif and China or Putinistan will act as role models for most of the world. Is there a need for history to repeat itself over and over again, as if mandated by a natural law? Isn't it possible create stable and just societies everywhere, like Scandinavia, where respect for the common good makes everybody's life for the better?

        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by dywolf ( 2673597 )

          the simple fact of the matter is that EVERYONE is underpaid.
          that doesn't mean you should begrudge the dockworker a decent living simply because "they're uneducated box pushers".

          rather, the key to boosting everyones' pay to where it should be is to start raising wages.
          the economy can handle it easily.

          The simple fact of the matter is that is wages had kept pace with productivity the current median wage would be ~140k/yr, and not the current anemic ~50k/yr.

          All the extra revenue from that increased productivity

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Pope ( 17780 )

          Yeah, everybody should go get a Masters degree and go be a programmer, surely these kinds of jobs will NEVER see wage depression as the market is filled with workers of the same skill set!

        • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

          by nbauman ( 624611 )

          Right now, at this time, people and small business (and thus the economy) are losing a lot of money because unions are closing down the docks in major ports. Why? Because they want their uneducated box-pushers who are already earning 147k a year, to make even more [usatoday.com]. Did you read that? People who did not invest in any degree, dropped out of high school and got a job at the docks earning 147k a year, and are now demanding more. Demanding more by crippling the rest of the economy. Are you kidding me?

          Yes, I read it. It's $83,000 a year, not $147,000. Stop bragging about how smart you are if you can't read a simple newspaper story, realize there are two sides to the story, and do some simple arithmetic.

          You say it would be fair for them to make $35/h. Well, $35/h x 40h/wk x 50 wk/yr = $70,000/yr, which is pretty close to $83,000. So they merely drove a good bargain. You have a problem with people making good money?

          There are reasons why they make so much money that you resent them.

          First, they know how to n

        • "Now is the opportunity for shuttle bus drivers, for food service workers, for janitors, for security officers to re-ask the question: Should I be equally as valued as the high tech workers in the high tech industry?" said David Huerta, president of United Service Workers West.

          Really? I mean, really? Are you seriously expecting an employee without a high school diploma doing the most simple job in the world to earn the same income as someone with a Master's degree or PHD? Really? That's just plain nonsense. Remember that all they do is drive a vehicle from A to B. Something that all of us do on a very regular basis.

          If I could get the same pay for driving a bus without the stress of programming AND get time off in the middle of the day,
          I would quit my job as a programmer and become a bus driver tomorrow. Besides requiring more education, many of the
          higher paying jobs also have more stress and more responsibility.

        • There is a simple way to prevent unions from gaining a foothold in your company: stop treating your employees like crap. Stop implementing life-sapping schedules that prevent workers from having meaningful relationships, give them solid healthcare that they don't want to trade away, give them a paycheck that allows them to live within a decent distance of their work, and don't treat them like meatbags whose sole purpose is to make you more money. If they still want to unionize after that? Fine, throw 'em to

      • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

        by Wycliffe ( 116160 )

        1) Unions are collective bargaining. Collective bargaining forms the basis for an intelligent, social civilisastion.

        saying "smash the unions!" is like shouting "GMO is evil!" - it's a nonsense blanket statement by an anti-science ideologue;

        When I think of Unions I think of all the corrupt Unions that litter the USA. Standing unions are a corrupted version of collective bargaining.
        Collective bargaining is good. I'm not a big fan of the standing unions we have today. If unions came into existance, fixed the problem and
        then disbanding then I wouldn't have a problem with them.

        • The best union is the threat of unionization.

          • Re: (Score:3)

            by srobert ( 4099 )

            That's a hollow threat when the private sector is less than 8% unionized. Someone commented that decades ago, we were told that in future (that's now) the work week would be shorter and living standards higher. Yes, we said that in the 60's and 70's. So why didn't that happen? If we had kept the 35% unionization rate we had back then, it would have. Instead, we busted unions, outsourced labor, and allowed the billionaire class to accumulate nearly all the benefits of increased per worker productivity that

    • Re:That is okay (Score:5, Funny)

      by NotDrWho ( 3543773 ) on Friday February 27, 2015 @09:37AM (#49146153)

      Automated cars will smash the unions

      Well, until all the unemployed workers smash the automated cars.

      • Why is this modded funny, and not insightful? Putting your fingers in your ears and screaming "lalalala free market solves everything you guys are just luddites" won't stop what's coming.

    • Re:That is okay (Score:5, Funny)

      by Chrisq ( 894406 ) on Friday February 27, 2015 @10:41AM (#49146659)

      Before too long we won't need the bus drivers. Automated cars will smash the unions

      I hope their steering is better than that

  • Sick (Score:5, Insightful)

    by symes ( 835608 ) on Friday February 27, 2015 @04:41AM (#49145197) Journal

    I do not like unpaid sick leave in some industries - particularly nurses, healthcare workers and the like. It means people are more likely to work when they are ill, forced to by financial concerns. Not good when they are dealing with people who are vulnerable. Same is true, to some extent, for bus drivers. Driving a bunch of people around while suffering from fever, etc., is going to effect their ability to drive. There's probably a compromise, such that drivers get 50% pay when ill. But would still prefer to see someone not drive me around while suffering from poor health. So what is good for workers and unions can also be good for customers as well.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      It boggles my mind that in the richest country in the world, there is even debate over this. The rest of the world has already realized that of course someone shouldn't lose their house or their job because they got the flu.

      • Re:Sick (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Virtucon ( 127420 ) on Friday February 27, 2015 @05:43AM (#49145355)

        Richest by getting rid of basic things like paid sick leave and turning workers into temps or "contract workers." In this instance I wish the teamsters luck because having drivers sit all day as "down time" when then can't really do anything else except hang around the bus and not get paid is also pretty fucked up.

      • Oh, so you're from Norway [wikipedia.org]?

        • Government debt is only one part of it..

          • Of course. debt in percent of GDP is probably a better indicator. But whatever indicator you use, you can't ignore debts. And if you can afford to LOAN more money that you have to borrow yourself (negative debt) that's definitly a sign of being "rich".

      • Re:Sick (Score:5, Insightful)

        by hey! ( 33014 ) on Friday February 27, 2015 @10:15AM (#49146449) Homepage Journal

        Well, this "richest country in the world" business is somewhat misleading. It means the country with the greatest aggregate economic power, not the country where people tend to be the best off. You need to look at several measures before you can begin to understand the thing that's mystifying you.

        By total GDP the US is by far the wealthiest nation in the world. It has almost twice the total GDP of the second country on the list, China. By *per capita* GDP, the US is about 10th on the list, just below Switzerland; so by global standards the typical American is wealthy, but not the wealthiest. On the other hand the US ranks about 20th in cost of living, so the typical American has it pretty good.

        Where things get interesting is if you look at GINI -- a measure of economic disparity. The most equal countries are of course the Scandinavians, with Denmark, Sweden and Norway topping the list. The US is far from the *least* equal (Seychelles, South Africa, and Comoros), but it is kind of surprising when you look at countries near the US on the list. Normally in most economic measures you see the US ranked near advanced industrialized countries in Europe, but it's neighbors on the GINI list are places like Turkmenistan, Qatar, and El Salvador.

        What this means is that we have significant classes on either end of the scale: the *very* wealthy and an economic underclass. Now because of the total wealth sloshing around in the US, the US underclass has it pretty well compared to the underclass in, say, India. But what this doesn't buy is clout or respect. "Poor" households in the US usually have TVs and refrigerators -- a fact that seems to anger some people, who see the poor in the US as ungrateful people who are too lazy to improve themselves. But a study by the OECD suggests that they don't have the *time* to improve themselves. In a ranking of countries by time spend on leisure and self-care the US ranks 33rd, at 14.3 hours lagging almost two hours per day behind world leader Denmark (big surprise). But remember this is an average; it doesn't represent the time available for the poor.

        Most Americans seem to think that poor people spend all their time sitting around waiting for handouts. This willfully ignores the phenomenon of the working poor. After selling my company, I volunteered on a lark at a charity which refurbishes old furniture and household stuff and furnishes the homes of poor people, and I found poor people to be neither lazy nor ungrateful. Let me tell you I have never met so many people who work two or sometimes more jobs. Particularly shocking were the number of women who took their children out of abusive relationships, and then have to work a full time job, raise three or four kids, without a car and in a neighborhood that doesn't have a grocery store. You don't know what gratitude is until you've given a poor, overtaxed mother beds when her children have been sleeping on the floor for months.

        When some smug, ignorant and conspicuously well-fed media head starts whining about the poor having refrigerators, it makes me want to punch them in the mouth.

        • Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)

          by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Friday February 27, 2015 @12:10PM (#49147315)
          Comment removed based on user account deletion
        • I wonder if those Scandinavian countries with high GINI scores have a defacto policy of importing more poor people from neighboring countries like the United States does? No, they all have very tight immigration controls and immediately deport illegal and undocumented aliens. Wanting to reduce the number of poor people and seeking to ease the process of entry for poor migrants are mutually exclusive goals.

          • Re:Sick (Score:4, Informative)

            by ISayWeOnlyToBePolite ( 721679 ) on Friday February 27, 2015 @03:08PM (#49148789)

            Look at Sweden for example. What you're stating simply isn't true. In 2013, 15.9% of the population was born outside of Sweden.
            Anyone in the EU is free to settle in any other EU contry (Sweden is a EU country, just as Romania).
            Anyone from outside the EU is free to work in Sweden provided that they can show an offer of employment with a monthly salary of at least 13000 sek
            (about 1560 usd), and after four years they can apply for permanent residency.

            The diffrence is a welfare state and unions.

      • It boggles my mind that in the richest country in the world, there is even debate over this. The rest of the world has already realized that of course someone shouldn't lose their house or their job because they got the flu.

        Given the recent flap about it, I think the way to convince the USA to have paid sick leave is to scream "BUT WHAT IF HE HAS EBOLA?!?!?"

    • This is true in most industries, even tech. Most companies have changed their policy from the base two weeks vacation plus you call in sick when you are sick to two weeks paid time off including sick leave. They did not offer employees any additional remuneration when they took away their sick leave. Also, they still want to know in advance when you are going to use a PTO day, as if you know what days you are going to be sick.

  • In related news... (Score:5, Funny)

    by tlambert ( 566799 ) on Friday February 27, 2015 @04:42AM (#49145201)

    In related news... Yahoo, Apple, Genentech, eBay and Zynga will decide whether or not they will contract their transportation services from someone other than Compass Transportation Monday.

    Welcome to an "at will" state, Teamsters!

  • This is perhaps one of the most stupid places the teamsters could possibly make a push.

    Nothing is going to inspire the likes of google and apple to build driveless cars faster than getting dicked around with by these retrograde knuckle dragging union goons.

    The teamsters have lots of union works across the country that drive things. Most of their customers don't own design teams working on driverless cars. If they poke a stick in google and apple's eye over this issue they're just going to redouble their eff

    • Re:... Driverless cars? (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Phillip2 ( 203612 ) on Friday February 27, 2015 @05:08AM (#49145279)

      As the article points out, this is not a big cost for the companies involved. Unionisation of the buses is not going to make the slightest bit of difference whatsoever to Google's desire to generate a self-driving vehicle. The market is enormous, so they have all the incentive in the world.

      What is going to make a difference to these companies is some degree of collective action. We know that many SV companies have been involved in collection action in the past, with non-compete agreements to keep wages of high-skilled workers low. It is a good thing if the shoe is on the other foot for a while. The only real sad thing is that this is unlikely to spread to where it is really needed -- in the third world sweat shop supply chains.

      • As the article points out, this is not a big cost for the companies involved. Unionisation of the buses is not going to make the slightest bit of difference whatsoever to Google's desire to generate a self-driving vehicle.

        Please note that Google is not listed among those 5 companies that contracted their busses out to that other company. I don't know about their transportation, but espescially Google has a lot of their service done by their own staff instead of outsourcing to the cheapest bidder:

        http://www.forbes.com/sites/eriksherman/2014/10/06/google-brings-security-staff-in-house-a-new-trend/ [forbes.com]

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Karmashock ( 2415832 )

        Of course not. When big national unions come in to take over labor its all roses and rainbows. The flayed men and pyres of burning bodies come later.

        I judge the teamsters by their previous conduct and their reputation in other markets. As any rational person should when judging such an organization. They have a long standing reputation which people I personally know can attest to of intimidation, unreasonable demands, and basically leveraging any bargaining position past the point of breakage.

        They're the so

        • Re:... Driverless cars? (Score:4, Interesting)

          by Krishnoid ( 984597 ) on Friday February 27, 2015 @06:47AM (#49145507) Journal

          They're the sort of union that if they don't get what they want they sometimes break equipment, throw bricks through windows with murder threats on them, and other fucking insane bullshit.

          Were this a union group without that reputation then I'd give them the benefit of the doubt. But this is the teamsters. They've a reputation of being rough with people that don't give them what they want. And the reality is that no one has patience for that shit anymore.

          Or the anonymity, for that matter -- approaching a Google Street View car from any direction, probably results in enough images being captured of you from enough angles to turn your vandalism attempt into a scene from the Matrix. If they haven't matured out of that old-school kind of approach even today, a little technology may not be sufficient to get them to change their ways fast enough.

          • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

            by PPalmgren ( 1009823 )

            Unions generally don't mature from their inception, its kind of a self-selective process. The goal of union leadership is more bodies, more pay, and more dues. As a result, they are inherently anti-progress, anti-tech, and anti-change. If they tried to align more with the companies they work with in setting production goals instead of man-hour quotas, I think the relationships would be much more amicable. Another poster got it right that the problem is with 'monopoly unions' or unions that control the l

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Entrope ( 68843 )

          Jimmy Hoffa was unavailable to comment for this story about the Teamsters' violent behavior and links to organized crime.

        • Cite?

          I think you're applying their reputation from the 30s. I'm not a fan of unions in general, but I see a little of the modern Teamsters though my brother, a UPS driver. UPS is a union shop. Other than their strict enforcement of a seniority system, I frankly don't really see any problem. I think they do a lot of good for the UPS drivers, and see no evidence that they believe it's still 1930.

          • That's fine... if they behave themselves then maybe everything will be fine. We'll see.

            • That's fine... if they behave themselves then maybe everything will be fine. We'll see.

              So, does that response mean you are applying their reputation from the 30s, rather than basing your comment on recent behavior?

              • Considering his original post was about their dealings with his father, I doubt he based it on their reputation from 80 years ago.

                • If his dad was a multi-millionaire, he could have got himself a nice little trophy 3rd/4th wife and had some kids when he was about 80. Then at 90, he could have told his young son, preparing to go to high school, about the dark days of his early career...

          • You are damning them with faint praise, I think. I've worked at a place with "strict enforcement of a seniority system" before, and it was a nightmare. I will not work at any company with such a strict seniority policy if I can help it at all.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by pnutjam ( 523990 )
              So on the one hand, drivers are no-skilled workers who should not make as much as a skilled worker. On the other hand a seniority system is unfair. How would you judge identical widgets? Seniority seems pretty fair to me.
    • Thanks for the rant. I hate the modern incarnation of the Unions as much as the next guy, but don't think for one moment that Google or Apple is the hero of the story that will come and save the day with their flying/driverless/superinvincibility car. That shit will never work, and if they could fuck you over just as bad they would.
    • I say good, let them automate everything. There's going to be a hard choice coming when automation of labor goes to that level. When people don't have jobs anymore, and there's no capital in the consumer market to drive demand; either markets are going to collapse, or we're going to have to go to a new way of doing things. I hope I'm alive to watch it happen. Hopefully the outcome will be beneficial to everyone

      • The answer to your little riddle is already in evidence in the past and present.

        First, we're transitioning out of the industrial era. And just as the transition out of the agricultural era there are going to be people that can't adapt. Their children will but they will not. In the past transition these people generally starved, were forced into petty crime, begged, etc. We have welfare now. So... they can drink beer, live in a mobile home, and be bitter. Its vastly more then they had the last time and socie

    • Re:... Driverless cars? (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Sir_Eptishous ( 873977 ) on Friday February 27, 2015 @12:29PM (#49147457)
      I have a good friend whom I've known for years who is a Teamster. To be honest, I feel your ridiculous and long winded account of Teamsters is quite off the mark.
      Perhaps if you saw and heard things from the other side you might change your opinion. But I doubt it. It appears you already know everything their is to know about what it's like to be a Teamster, and what they put up with. Thanks for that shower of wisdom.

      Again, my knowledge about their job isn't first person, just coming from what my very good friend has told me for the last twenty years or so. I can tell you this though, your 1970's era opinions of unions being all powerful are about as anachronistic as holding up your lighter during Freebird at a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert.

      My friend has described in detail how they continue to "get fucked" everytime their new contracts come up. And yes, he tells me the details of thier contracts, what has changed, how it used to be, etc; He actually doesn't like telling me most of it, but I'm quite interested in how that process works, how they negotiate, etc;

      The Teamsters don't get their cake and eat it to, as those with a Mussoliniesque political bent would have everyone believe.
      Unioins, and especially the Teamsters are a pale shadow of their former selves.

      Now to the real point.
      Yes, we will have driverless vehicles in the not too distant future.
      Yes, most if not all of the driving professions will disappear quite rapidly after that happens.
      Yes, that will put even more people out of work, with no or little hope of a future profession now that their livelihood has disappeared.

  • The best solution to union meddling concerning the split shifts is to employ half of the drivers in the morning and the other half in the evening.

    No more split shifts and half the pay. Hooray for unions?

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by jpapon ( 1877296 )

      The best solution to union meddling concerning the split shifts is to employ half of the drivers in the morning and the other half in the evening.

      This has to be one of the dumbest things I have ever read.

      Tell me genius, how are you going to drive the same amount of buses with half the employees on a shift? Or are you under the impression that people can drive two buses at once?

      • I'm pretty sure he meant to have twice as many drivers as they currently have, and split them into two groups. GroupA drives in the morning then goes home, or to a second job. GroupB comes in for the afternoon.

    • Actually, the best method for avoiding union interference is to not treat employees like shit, thus removing incentive to join a union.

      On the other hand, I hear Walmart does quite well with their "burn anyone who so much as mentions the word 'union' alive" policy, so I could be way off base.

  • Because it would, of course, be a terrible thing if drivers were well qualified, reasonably paid, and respected by their employers. Really, who doesn't wish they could work 70+ hours a week for 35 hours of pay? And job stability is so 1950s...
  • Some people have an irrational and emotional dislike of trade unions and are not afraid to show it, with words such as fools, idiots, morons, and so on. Crispin Odey the president of a 12-billion-dollar hedge fund would like to disagree with you: “... there is huge value in being in a union at the moment.” http://moneyweek.com/merryns-b... [moneyweek.com]

  • "Union leaders say they want to bring the drivers into the fold so they can negotiate better pay and benefits"

    More like they want more people paying union dues until the companies just drop the shuttles entirely because they would no longer be affordable under union demands...

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