United States: Silicon Valley bus drivers unionize in order to reap benefits from the new economy

Belonging to a union as a way to ensure that everyone gains from the new economy. Thus is the message from the Silicon Valley Rising movement, which, as is characteristic of the American tradition, allies labor, faith, and community based organizations under one banner. After Loop and Compass, drivers working at WeDriveU who shuttle Google employees to and from their workplace have joined the Teamsters union. For these drivers, what is at stake is being able to earn enough to live in an area near Silicon Valley where the cost of living continues to rise due to the influx of the high-tech elite employees who are behind a ‘gentrification’ of the region.
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High tech drivers are unionizing. Workers at WeDriveU, a sub-contracting business, shuttle Google employees between San Francisco and Google’s headquarters in Silicon Valley, have just joined the Teamsters union. WeDriveU simultaneously recognized the same Teamsters union in a second high-tech Mecca, Seattle. “We appreciate that WeDriveU has respected the rights of these drivers to be represented by a union of their choice. This is a good thing for the company, the drivers and Google, who will

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