Spin’s San Francisco staff becomes the first e-scooter workforce to unionize

The San Francisco workforce of Spin, the e-scooter company owned by Ford, have unionized, in a first for the industry.

Having voted to unionize on Dec. 5, the workers were authorized to join the Teamsters Local 665 chapter on Wednesday.

As well as office-based staff, scooter rental companies largely rely on a workforce of independent contractors, i.e. gig workers, to charge, maintain, relocate, and check the 85,000 or so vehicles scattered in cities around the U.S. But Spin says its entire San Francisco workforce of 100 people is comprised of W2 employees, and this is “the model” for its 60-plus other markets.

The move comes in the wake of Assembly Bill 5, a state bill designed to ensure gig workers like rideshare drivers could be classified as W2 employees with wages and benefits, not 1099 contractors. 

A Spin spokesperson told Mashable on Wednesday evening that the company would not be approaching the collective bargaining negotiations with an “adversarial” mindset, as it respects workers’ right to unionize, and that the labor peace agreement the San Francisco office signed with the Teamsters earlier this year included a neutrality clause for that reason.

“Spin has long differentiated itself with our workforce policies, choosing a W-2 model and local hiring over independent contractors and staffing agencies,” the spokesperson said. “We believe investing in everyone from our headquarters to our warehouses leads to a safer, more reliable service.”

“We don’t anticipate any changes to our work force from unionization.”

Mashable also reached out to the local chapter of the Teamsters union for comment, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

Spin is one of four e-scooter companies authorized to operate in San Francisco, after the city cracked down on the thousands of rental scooters littering the early-adopter-packed streets earlier this year.

Whether the move will inspire other e-scooter workforces, even those whose parent companies aren’t the likes of Ford, which might be more used to dealing with unions than your average startup, remains to be seen.