Apple boosts bus drivers’ pay ahead of union vote

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(Credit: Myhomeinsf)
Apple is throwing more cash in the direction of its drivers.
Photo: Myhomeinsf

Apple has boosted pay for its contracted shuttle bus drivers ahead of a vote this weekend, in which unionized drivers in Silicon Valley will vote on a package for improved wages and benefits.

Drivers are demanding hourly pay increases to $21-$25, which will then increase again to $22.50-$28.50 in three years. They also want pension contributions, differential pay for shifts, and a six-hour minimum for drivers who don’t want to work split shifts.

If the vote passes, these demands will be made as a “final offer” to Compass Transportation of San Jose, where most of the 160 drivers for the big high-tech companies — including Apple — are employed.

“Companies like Apple are setting the standard for ethical outsourcing,” said Alan Hyde, a professor at Rutgers School of Law in Newark, N.J., and author of the book Working in Silicon Valley: Economic and Legal Analysis of a High-Velocity Labor Market. “Even if it’s more efficient to use a contractor, if a company benefits from services, they have responsibility for labor standards.”

This isn’t the first time Apple has shown itself to be ethically-minded when responding to the concerns of those contractors lower on the Apple pay scale. Having previously had protests from its own security guards over their lack of job protection, earlier this year Apple agreed to dramatically expand its in-house security team — giving these workers the same benefits as other Apple employees.

It seems that Tim Cook is serious when he talks about making Apple a “force for good” in the world.

Source: USA Today

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