A labor relations board is putting the breaks on a decision allowing the Teamsters to represent scores of drivers who bring passengers all around Walt Disney World property and the airport through the company’s partnership with Lyft.
Minnie Van drivers have different responsibilities and training than the bus drivers already represented by Teamsters local.
The Teamsters demanded the right to bargain for wages, hours and working conditions on behalf of the Minnie Van drivers without a vote on the matter after a regional director ruled the union could represent them.
The union argues Minnie Van drivers, who are technically Disney employees, should be included in the same bargaining unit as bus drivers since they perform the same primary task of driving guests.
The NLRB panel reversed the union’s request on Friday, saying overall their responsibilities are quite different.
Bus drivers need a commercial driver’s license, they drive a fixed route, they play pre-recorded information over a loud speaker and their training lasts about 4 weeks according to the panel.
Minnie Van drivers are summoned through the Lyft app, receive only 2 weeks of training and don’t need a CDL. They are also driving different routes based on their guest’s request and are expected to tell stories to the guests during the ride.
The drivers summoned by the Lyft app and bus drivers “may have similar working conditions and share geographic proximity,” the panel wrote. But they “have little or no group identity.”
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