(SAN FRANCISCO) – Workers for e-scooter company Spin joined Teamsters Local 665 today via card check agreement, becoming the first e-scooter workers to organize in San Francisco.

There are about 40 Spin workers who are now Teamsters, including shift leads, maintenance specialists, operations specialists, neighborhood ambassadors, deployers and collectors. Spin, owned by Ford Motor Company, has plans to grow by hiring more Teamster employees into the new year.

“We’re excited to represent the first-ever group of union scooter workers at Spin,” said Tony Delorio, President of Local 665. “The card check process was quick and went smoothly. Thanks to the Board of Supervisors ensuring labor harmony and Spin’s eagerness to partner with the workers and the union, we look forward to continued success moving forward.”

Delorio said contract proposal meetings will take place at a future date. Workers have already expressed they are seeking better wages, health care and retirement security.

In October, the 11 members of San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors passed a resolution calling on the city’s Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) to consider compliance with AB5 in its issuance of permits to companies. AB5 is a law recently passed by the California Legislature which will expand employee status to thousands of workers by making it harder for companies to misclassify them as “independent contractors.”

The Board of Supervisors also unanimously passed a resolution calling for labor harmony for scooter companies. The SFMTA passed a labor harmony requirement in 2015 for the Silicon Valley’s commuter shuttle buses which operate in San Francisco.

“The Board of Supervisors clearly told companies that if they want to do business in the city, they need to create good jobs, not temp or ‘gig’ jobs. Among the companies vying to operate in the city, Spin, and the Ford Motor Company which owns Spin, stepped up. As a result, Spin’s workers are direct employees and able to organize with the Teamsters,” said Doug Bloch, Political Director with Teamsters Joint Council 7. “The legislature passed AB5, the Board of Supervisors acted, and it’s working. This is significant because this is an industry that was based on independent contractors with little to no workplace protections and now they’re becoming employees and workers are organizing. It’s a model for the tech industry moving forward.”

Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.4 million hardworking men and women throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Visit www.teamster.org for more information. Follow us on Twitter @Teamsters and “like” us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/teamsters.

 

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