(CNN) — The drivers who ferry Facebook employees to and from work are unionizing.
Shuttle drivers at Loop Transportation, the contractor Facebook and other tech companies use for their shuttles, have voted to join the Teamsters union, the Los Angeles Times reported. The drivers who work the Facebook route voted 43 to 28 to join the union on Wednesday.
The shuttles that take technology workers to their jobs at companies like Google, Facebook and Apple have become symbolic of income inequality in the Bay Area. Protesters and activists who blame tech companies for the soaring rents and a rash of evictions have targeted the buses.
Drivers make between $17 and $25 an hour, Loop Transportation told the LA Times. They are paid hourly for their shifts, often one in the morning and one in the afternoon, but not for the in-between wait time.
Major technology companies offer shuttle services as a perk for their full-time employees so they do not have to drive or take public transit from their San Francisco homes to Silicon Valley. Service employees such as security workers, drivers and food staff are often contract workers who make lower wages and don’t enjoy the same benefits as full employees.
