‘Mass layoffs’ of bus driver Meta prompts Facebook to call for workers to return to the office
Protesters on Thursday called for Meta Platforms Inc. called Silicon Valley-based engineers and other employees back into the office, after Facebook’s parent company continued to lay off service workers with “mass layoffs” of shuttle bus drivers.
Drivers and their union supporters rallied in front of Meta
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headquarters in Menlo Park, California, on Thursday, after more than 160 shuttle drivers and their supervisors lost their jobs. The number of layoffs amounts to about a third of the driver force at Meta, according to the drivers union.
Stacy Murphy of Teamsters Local 853. She added: “This is a massive layoff for Meta.
“These mixed changes are hurting the good work of unions,” she said.
When asked about the percentage of their employees who regularly visit the office, a Meta spokeswoman said this week that “75 percent of teams are working in multiple locations,” though she wouldn’t split it. share more specific information by location or number of days in the office. .
The spokesperson added: “Since returning to the office, we have adjusted on-site services and amenities, including transportation, to better reflect the needs of our hybrid workforce. I.”
If three-quarters of Meta’s workforce went into the office, the many vacancies in the parking lot of the company’s main campus didn’t reflect that Thursday. And that number will be much higher than what seems to be happening across the region.
According to the Bay Area Council, which has surveyed about 200 regional employers monthly about their plans to return to the office since last year, about 37% of employees have been in the office for two or three days. a week from September. This is roughly in line with the latest data from Kastle Access Control Systems, a company that specializes in card locks, which says about 40% of office workers are walking into offices in different locations. San Francisco and San Jose metro areas.
“What seems to be happening [with the tech shuttle system] Rufus Jeffris, a spokesman for the Bay Area Council, which counts Meta among its members, said it was no different from what is happening with our public transit system, where passenger numbers are still declining. . “Really hard. The ripple effects continue to hit us from the big transition to remote working. “
See: Downtown San Francisco Was the epicenter of Silicon Valley’s boom, but now it must be reinvented
The fate of tech shuttles – once common in the Bay Area – is now in question as the new coronavirus pandemic standards include remote and flexible work. Tech shuttles, pandemics have proliferated in the Bay Area. According to Silicon Valley Ventures survey of eight major tech companies in 2019, Facebook, Genentech, Google
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Intuit Inc.
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Of Microsoft Corp.
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LinkedIn, Palantir Technologies Inc.
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Salesforce Inc.
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and Tesla Inc.
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has a combined fleet of 1,600 shuttles, bringing in employees from across the Bay Area and beyond.
Jessica Cruz, who has been driving for Meta for five years, told MarketWatch that the shuttle bus she drove from Menlo Park to San Francisco and back was once full, with about 60 passengers. Today, she can take as little as seven or eight passengers to a maximum of about 25.
While Cruz said she’s grateful she’s survived the layoffs so far, she said, “I don’t like not knowing that my job is stable.” After her mother passed away last year, she said she had to raise her 17-year-old brother.
At the rally, Cruz and other drivers and supporters carried signs that read, “We can’t work in the Metaverse. We need jobs in real life! ” and “Teleworking doesn’t work for everyone.”
“I hope that [Meta Chief Executive] Mark Zuckerberg will see this and encourage more of his employees into the office,” Murphy said.
From 2020: How long will Silicon Valley employees who can’t work from home continue to be paid?
The impending driver layoffs at Meta follow around 40 campus driver jobs cut earlier this year at the company, and cut down on gatekeepers last month. But some toilets get their jobs back after the Bay Area-wide toilets’ beat at the beginning of this month, so drivers and their unions are looking to that to hopefully. The cuts come as Meta reported are looking at thousands of people being laid off like revenue growth slowsso service workers aren’t the only ones who fear their jobs.
Unlike other full-time engineers and tech workers, Meta does not employ its service staff directly. It brings vendors and contractors to hire shuttle drivers, cleaning staff, security guards, cafeteria workers and more.
According to letters sent by two shuttle driver providers to the California Department of Employment Development, a total of 166 drivers and other workers were involved in shuttle service at Meta facilities in Menlo Park. , San Francisco and Newark, California, are being laid off between November 7 and November 26. WeDriveU Inc. will lay off 51 drivers in Newark, California, 46 drivers in Menlo Park, and six coordination, supervisory and management staff. Hallcon Corp. will lay off 57 San Francisco drivers and six members of its operating staff.
In their letter to the EDD, the two companies cited similar reasons for layoffs: their customers cut back on shipping. Affected numbers are subject to change as WeDriveU attempts to place some drivers in other locations, and Hallcon said some drivers may be maintained or recalled, according to the letters.
See more: Remote employees work less, sleep and play more, Fed research shows
Sean Hinman, who has been driving for Meta for nine years, told the small crowd of Teamsters supporters on Thursday that “uncertainty is scary”, but he thanked the union for trying to sort out those the driver was fired for other jobs.
Hinman told MarketWatch that while he’s kept his job so far, he’s worried that the cuts will eventually affect him.
“I’m not here to throw stones, but unfortunately,” he said. “My brothers and sisters need work. It is a big difficulty for everyone. “
