TEAMSTERS HALT ROBOCAR MAKER IN SAN FRANCISCO
(SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.) – A zoning appeal victory for the Teamsters Union has effectively stopped the expansion of autonomous (AV) car-maker WAYMO following a 10-0 vote by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors supporting the union’s claim that the company had not been forthright in its application to alter the use of a large distribution center in the city’s industrial area. “AV companies such as WAYMO threaten the livelihood of Teamster members who are employed in the expanding area of parcel delivery”, stated Teamsters 665 Principal Officer Tony Delorio, after the hearing and vote. “WAYMO’s model is to eliminate working package-car drivers entirely, and the work that remains would be relegated to minimum-wage sorting jobs. Their race-to-the-bottom plan was stopped with this vote”, Delorio said. The hearing, held at San Francisco’s City Hall on Tuesday May 23, 2023, uncovered Inconsistencies in the initial zoning application filed by WAYMO, as well as newly discovered violations of municipal transit policy. At the hearing the company insisted that it had no intention of engaging in parcel delivery. These statements were refuted after the Teamsters presented video evidence of the WAYMO CEO boasting about bringing parcel delivery to San Francisco in the near term. “This company clearly has credibility issues. And no one came to the microphone to support sending fleets of Robocars onto city streets with the end goal of job elimination”, stated John Bouchard, Principal Officer of Teamsters Local 350. The hearing at San Francisco’s City Hall was packed with rank-and-file Teamsters who stood and thanked elected officials as the meeting concluded. Delorio noted that Locals 2010, 2785, 315, 350, 665, 853 and 856 sent members to witness and participate in the hearing. Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.3 million hardworking people in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico, including hundreds of thousands of workers in the parcel delivery sector.
