French Apple Store staff will strike as iPhone 15 goes on sale
As the iPhone 15 arrives in stores on September 22, Apple Store staff across France will go on strike over pay.
French unions protest Apple Store pay (Source: union poster online)
On the same day that the first online pre-ordered iPhone 15 models are delivered to buyers, Apple Stores across the world will begin stocking them. Consequently, Friday September 22, 2023, and Saturday September 23, are expected to be exceptionally busy time for the stores.
However, according to Bloomberg, Apple Stores across France will see industrial action in various forms on both days. A group of French unions including CGT, Unsa, CFDT and CFTC say that there will be a demonstration in front of Apple's Paris Opera store on Friday.
The unions say that Apple has refused a requested 7% pay rise, aimed at offsetting inflation. Bloomberg says that Apple has offered 4.5%
"Since the management has decided to ignore our demands and concerns despite their perfect legitimacy," said the unions (in translation) on Twitter/X, "the four unions of Apple Retail France (as well as the representatives of the Barcelona and Corporate teams) are calling for a strike on September 22 and 23."
"We will thus remind management that it is not these movements that harm the company," continued the unions, "but rather their denial in the face of the ill-being of its employees."
There are 20 Apple Stores in France and reportedly there will be a range of protests. Some employees are expected to stop working for one hour, though it's not clear whether that is on both days.
The strike follows similar action in Australia in 2022. This is also not the first time that Apple Store staff in France have gone on strike for an iPhone launch day.
French staff protest at iPhone 5 launch in 2012 (Source: IBTIMES TV via DailyMotion)
In 2012, members of the Solidaires Unitaires Democratiques (SUD) union staged a protest as the iPhone 5 went on sale.
Separately, Apple Store staff in France have been told by Apple to not volunteer information to customers about the French government's recent allegations about iPhone 12 radiation issues.
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Comments
Yes, Apple should definitely not keep their pay up with inflation. How stupid is that? /s
https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/french-inflation-higher-than-expected-august-57-2023-08-31/
https://www.inflation.eu/en/inflation-rates/france/historic-inflation/cpi-inflation-france-2023.aspx
Apple offering 4.5% on a salary should cover costs from inflation because not everything a person spends their salary on has gone up in price nor by the highest level of inflation.
If an Apple employee in France gets a 40k euro salary:
https://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Apple-Apple-Genius-France-Salaries-EJI_IE1138.0,5_KO6,18_IL.19,25_IN86.htm
according to this, their take-home is 70%:
https://salaryaftertax.com/fr/salary-calculator
Around 28.4k (2360e/month). 1k rent, 500e food, 300 expenses/utilities/transport, 560e savings.
If the salary goes up 4.5% = 41.8k, take-home is 29.4k (2450e/month). If costs went up 6%, they'd go from 1800e to 1908e so savings after costs would be 542e.
If people are living paycheck to paycheck and spending every cent, they'd have to cut back a little. 2360 x 1.06 = 2501 euros vs 2450 take-home at 4.5% pay rise. 51e/month down (4-5 McDonald's meals per month) if inflation affected every expense they had at the worst level.
One of the problems with these protests (like pay gap protests) is that people don't bother crunching the numbers, the activists are misinformed and just start yelling about it and spread their misinformation to other people who get annoyed about the misinformation. People in France also seem to like protesting so I'm sure most of them are happy to get on board with it but Apple could easily send each of them an email from accounting explaining how their offer counters inflation.
A rate of pay rise being lower than inflation doesn't necessarily equate to a pay cut, that only happens if the costs an individual has go up by more than their take-home pay rises.
Still, Apple can afford it. An extra 2.5% rise (for the lower paid employees) is 1000e per employee x 150,000 employees = $150m. Apple makes over $90b net income. I think they should reward their workers (especially in manufacturing internationally) for making them their profits.
There's only so much expenses can be reduced, after all. Your rent is always going up (and moving to a "cheaper" place often means other unpalatable trade-offs like security, safety, increased commuting time, fewer shops for quality food, etc) and there's a minimum amount of food required for survival.
https://rentola.fr/en/listings/strasbourg-265021 (Strasbourg, 900e/month)
https://rentola.fr/en/listings/strasbourg-266819 (Strasbourg, 783e/month)
https://rentola.fr/en/listings/studio-meuble-avec-ascenseurbatignolles-paris-17-19628 (Paris, 1010e/month)
900e/month it says is average rent for that area, in Paris 1010e is below average for a studio apartment. Apple will adjust pay depending on location.
A lot of people commute to work too. Trains can travel over 200km/h so people can live over 100km away from the expensive areas with a 30 minute commute each way.
Even if the rent was more, the example is about the effect of inflation on costs compared to the salary. It's not necessary for employers to match average inflation in order to counter it for every employee. I'm not saying they shouldn't, they can afford it and their staff deserve to be well paid, I'm just saying their offer is reasonable.