ORLANDO, Fla. — A labor relations board is putting the brakes on a decision allowing the Teamsters to represent scores of Lyft drivers who haul passengers around the Walt Disney World property in Florida.
A National Labor Relations Board panel ruled against the Orlando-based Teamsters local last Friday.
The Lyft drivers have different responsibilities and training than do bus drivers who are already represented by the Teamsters local, according to the three-member panel’s ruling.
The Teamsters demanded the right to bargain for wages, hours and working conditions on behalf of the Lyft drivers without a vote on the matter after an NLRB regional director last May ruled the union could represent the “Minnie Van” drivers.
Disney World guests can get the private rides using the Lyft app on their phones instead of waiting for Disney buses to drive them around the resort.
Clay Jeffries, the president of Teamsters Local Union 385, on Monday refused to comment in an email, and the union’s attorney didn’t respond to an email and a phone call.
Disney officials also didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The Teamsters had argued that the Lyft drivers should be included in the same bargaining unit as bus drivers since they perform the same job of driving guests around the resort.
But the NLRB panel said 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 loudspeaker and their training lasts for 14 weeks, the panel said.
The Lyft drivers, on the other hand, get only two weeks of training and don’t need a commercial driver’s license. They drive wherever their passengers ask them to go. They are instructed to tell stories to their passengers, advise them about things to do at Walt Disney World and help resolve any problems the Disney guests may encounter, the panel said.
The Lyft drivers and bus drivers “may have similar working conditions and share geographic proximity,” the panel wrote. But they “have little or no group identity.”
