A Teamsters Union in the Bay Area is hosting a job fair in the wake of post-pandemic worker shortages, the first ever for the local union.
The Teamsters in South Bay will hold a job fair on Saturday, July 10th at the Union Hall on 4th street in San Jose, California. Dozens of companies offering trucking, bus driving, warehouse, and machine operator jobs will be in attendance.
“There is a massive shortage of commercial drivers. We’re talking about our long-haul drivers, some of our freight drivers locally, and package handling,” said Teamsters Union Local 853 rep Ray Torres. Torres says that many truckers are still collecting checks after being laid off, have left the industry entirely, or simply aged out during the pandemic, so some businesses are getting desperate for workers.
“With a shortage of drivers delivering packages, your packages may be sitting on the docks longer than you would want,” Torres said to CBS 5 News.
“Our biggest problem is driver turnover. Trying to keep drivers in the industry,” said trucker and industry veteran Al Hemerson.
Most of the younger crowd don’t really care to get into it. They’re more used to Uber drivers. So they’re not into driving. They’d rather play on their phones when they’re in the vehicle,” said Kim Hemerson.
Most of the jobs that will be offered at the fair are considered “well paying,” with starting wages anywhere from $25 to $30 an hour, plus health care, pension, and/or 401k benefits.