Teamsters demand answers from Waymo
March 3, 2026
(SAN FRANCISCO) – Today, Teamsters Joint Council 7 was joined by Service Employees International Union Local 1021 and the International Association of Firefighters Local 798 at a press conference outside San Francisco City Hall calling for good jobs and safe streets.
The press conference was followed by a hearing before the Board of Supervisors Land Use and Transportation Committee, where Waymo was compelled to testify about its operational failures during a widespread power outage in December.
During the outage, Waymo vehicles froze in place, causing significant traffic jams and public safety threats. Autonomous vehicles (AVs) blocked first responders and delayed firefighters who were responding to the electrical substation fire that caused the blackout.
Joint Council 7 President Peter Finn speaks at a rally calling for AV accountability.
“Waymo’s excuses about why fire trucks continue to be blocked en route to emergencies, or what will happen to the workers they are trying to displace will persist until we force real change,” said Peter Finn, Teamsters Joint Council 7 President.
Since 2022, when Waymo was first approved to operate without a human driver in California, threats to public safety have grown by the day. A child was struck by a Waymo outside of his school, and another one killed a bodega cat in San Francisco. AVs also have a history of driving through construction zones and active crime scenes. In Texas, a Waymo blocked an ambulance that was responding to a mass shooting in March.
“We are in the streets every day, navigating steep, narrow roads to keep our neighborhoods clean and safe. AVs continually cause route disruptions that delay garbage and recycling collection,” said Quentin Booker, a member of Teamsters Local 350 and sanitation driver in San Francisco.
