Apple rumored to be initiating 'union awareness' training for retail managers
Apple on Tuesday will launch a new mandatory training program to educate its retail managers on how to deal with unions.
According to an internal document first obtained by CNET, all new store managers will be required to take the training course, which starts Tuesday. All managers will also be required to take it biannually.
"This course is intended to provide managers with a practical understanding of how unions affect the workplace, how and why employees organize, and the legal do's and don'ts of dealing with unions," the course's description reads. "This is a mandatory class for all new managers, and is required biannually for all managers."
The training is also billed as a "great opportunity" for managers to meet the company's legal team and ask any questions.
It's possible the training is meant as a defensive counter to recent calls for an Apple retail union. In May, a group called the "Apple Retail Workers Union" contacted members of the press to gain publicity and support in hopes of unionizing in response to "unfair treatment" at Apple's retail stores.
The company's retail initiative turned 10 years old this year, with a total of 357 stores around the world as of the end of September. The unit, however, is in flux, as Ron Johnson, the executive who built Apple's retail stores into a booming business, left the company at the beginning of this month to become the CEO at J.C. Penney. Apple has not announced his replacement, though the company has said it is actively looking for his replacement.
According to an internal document first obtained by CNET, all new store managers will be required to take the training course, which starts Tuesday. All managers will also be required to take it biannually.
"This course is intended to provide managers with a practical understanding of how unions affect the workplace, how and why employees organize, and the legal do's and don'ts of dealing with unions," the course's description reads. "This is a mandatory class for all new managers, and is required biannually for all managers."
The training is also billed as a "great opportunity" for managers to meet the company's legal team and ask any questions.
It's possible the training is meant as a defensive counter to recent calls for an Apple retail union. In May, a group called the "Apple Retail Workers Union" contacted members of the press to gain publicity and support in hopes of unionizing in response to "unfair treatment" at Apple's retail stores.
The company's retail initiative turned 10 years old this year, with a total of 357 stores around the world as of the end of September. The unit, however, is in flux, as Ron Johnson, the executive who built Apple's retail stores into a booming business, left the company at the beginning of this month to become the CEO at J.C. Penney. Apple has not announced his replacement, though the company has said it is actively looking for his replacement.
Comments
Strong unions = strong economy. Notice how crappy our economy is? It's cus our unions are crappy. Workers spend money- not owners. Buy American. Support our neighbors and our own jobs.
Welcome to the 19th century.
Welcome to the 19th century.
So how's 2011 treating the 99%? Oh that's right...
Strong unions = strong economy. Notice how crappy our economy is? It's cus our unions are crappy. Workers spend money- not owners. Buy American. Support our neighbors and our own jobs.
Submitting this post as one of the funniest of the year.
Well done!
Welcome to the 19th century.
1. He's right.
2. Unions didn't get big until the 20th century after the New Deal. In the 19th they were violently put down by big business and government working in tandem.
Steve Jobs was particularly against the teacher's unions and spoke about how they were destroying the educational system in the US.
This isn't the 1800's, screw the unions, especially ones whose members wear ugly purple shirts and whose members march around like a bunch of braindead zombies on speed, assaulting people and often resorting to violence, because they are a savage bunch of fascist lowlifes. They are downright anti-American.
If unions come to Apple you can kiss the retail business goodbye. I for one will never enter another Apple store. I will mail order my Apple products. No union has EVER made a company more productive, competitive or innovative.
Tell that to the Germans, Swedes, Danes and Dutch among others. They work with effective unions and have for more than a century.
I suppose we?ll have to kiss you goodbye.
If unions come to Apple you can kiss the retail business goodbye. I for one will never enter another Apple store. I will mail order my Apple products. No union has EVER made a company more productive, competitive or innovative.
Well, let me be the first to enlighten you...
Their called trade unions and this is how they make companies more competitive:
First, let me put things in perspective. Construction is an industry where companies are limited by their own capacity to man work and get bonding for the financial part. The second part isn't what I'm focusing on, but the first is. You see, if a job comes up that will require 100 men to man the work, and you only have 30 on staff, where are you going to get the extra men? You can do one of two things: Either you don't bid on the work, or you hire help. Hiring help takes time and resources. First, there is putting out ads, partnering with someone like Monster.com, or whatever. Then, there is the hiring process. For every person you hire, you see many applicants that don't qualify. That leads us to the second problem. Companies are usually responsible for training, certification, and licensing of apprentices. That level of training and competency varies. For instance, I live in an area the borders 3 states. If the company is an electrical company that only does work in one state, they'll pay for training only for the state they do work in. So, if my company is looking to hire people licensed in all 3 states, it's a crap shoot as to who is applying and what background they come from. Next is the issue of human resources. Every person hired has different demands. This person wants X amount to work, this person wants Y. This person requires 3 weeks vacation, that one requires 2. It goes on and on. This requires good record keeping and must be kept on top of by the payroll department, as well. Then, when times get lean, it's often hard to let go employees, knowing well you probably will never see them again, and it'll be difficult to get people with their qualifications and work ethic. Many employers even keep them on in lean times, despite losing money, because they simply don't want to lose their core guys.
Enter trade unions. They're multi-employer. They're a pool of qualified tradesman. If I needed 70 men to man a job, I'd have to make one single call to the union hall and tell them the qualifications I need. They maintain a list of qualifications of each member. The members that meet the qualifications will report to work on the day they are requested. If they can't meet the demand, they pull from neighboring union halls to meet the demand. Also, the union handles all fringe benefits. Healthcare, retirement, and everything. There is no paid vacation. The union is also responsible for training, certification, and licensing. Since the union is a business, itself - of providing labor, it's in its best interest to train and certify its members as much as possible to make them as employable as possible. So, with one phone call, I can have 70 new qualified and licensed employees report to work with little paperwork. I've just eliminated a sizable pool of employees who would otherwise handle human resources and benefits and made it the job of just one person, instead. I also eliminated the cost of training those employees. I pay a flat rate that pays all benefits and on the check pay and everyone makes the same. I now have a known cost that I can use to estimate my labor costs. Sounds improbable? I was on a job that manned up more than 900 people of my trade, alone. There were 2000 people for a maintenance shutdown at a chemical plant that lasted 6 weeks, the vast majority brought in by simply placing a call to each necessary union hall, with a few that were company regulars, as well. Then, when the job is over, they get cut loose, that quickly. No regrets, no animosity, nothing. A company can shrink and grow in manpower that easily and have confidence that when they need competent skilled labor again, it just takes a phone call.
Now comes the kicker... The unions employ people whose jobs are to go out and secure work for the union contractors! They're out lobbying for the success of MY business! They're called business agents.
Personally, I think unionization is a personal matter. I don't hate people who aren't union workers, even though I'm a union member. Some companies take care of their employees, some don't, and others are flat out abusive. I do know that companies aren't looking out for my best interest. If you've been injured on a job, you'd know what I mean. My brother works for a company where it's an unspoken thing that filing a worker's comp claim is something you wouldn't dare do. That's pretty sad, and probably pretty typical of companies that do work where employees might get injured. I'm glad I have the backing of my union. I wouldn't have it any other way in the dangerous construction career I'm in.
"union awareness training" = "anti-union brainwashing"
A friend recently got a job at Target and they pretty much said that the union training there was exactly as you described.
I'm all for buying American but that has nothing to do with unions. Unions are good, unions are bad, outsourcing to China is good, outsourcing to China is bad. Republicans are bad... I have nothing else to report.
Strong unions = strong economy. Notice how crappy our economy is? It's cus our unions are crappy. Workers spend money- not owners. Buy American. Support our neighbors and our own jobs.
Tell that to the Germans, Swedes, Danes and Dutch among others. They work with effective unions and have for more than a century.
I suppose we?ll have to kiss you goodbye.
Europe is basically falling apart right before our very eyes. Even the Chinese said they where suffering from sloth recently. Europe is not a model for anything remotely successful as far as public policy goes.
Strong unions = strong economy. Notice how crappy our economy is? It's cus our unions are crappy. Workers spend money- not owners. Buy American. Support our neighbors and our own jobs.
Strong unions certainly haven't led to a strong economy for....
The U.S. steel industry
The U.S. auto industry
U.S. public education
The U.S. post office
Amtrack
etc. etc. etc....
Take every promising, dynamic, growing industry in the U.S., and you will find little to no union presence.
Take every deteriorating, decayed, moribund industry in the U.S., and you will find big, fat unions.
Unions have been directly responsible for the destruction of many industries in the USA. It isn't even debatable at this point. Unions lost their way a long time ago.
Are you serious? What industries? The auto industry? You mean, it wasn't the bean counters that decided a $0.10 part on a Ford Pinto was too expensive and led to deadly results? You mean it wasn't the poor engineering that went into those cars like the Pinto, Vega, Monza, and just about every other model? You mean it wasn't the inept management that didn't understand why people preferred Toyotas and Hondas? You mean it wasn't the designers who gave us forgettable designs? You mean it wasn't overpaid CEOs who were more worried about bonuses and shareholder value instead of product? You mean it wasn't the cheap interiors and bland exterior designs? You mean it wasn't a culture of crying about emissions regulations instead of innovating around those regulations? You mean it wasn't the fact that one company had 60% market share with only 2 other competitors? You mean it wasn't the fact that they simply designed and manufactured cars that rattled and squeaked and had purposely designed-in flaws, requiring you to spend money to fix them?
You mean to tell me it was the UAW that screwed up the US auto industry? I had no idea...
Strong unions certainly haven't led to a strong economy for....
The U.S. steel industry
The U.S. auto industry
U.S. public education
The U.S. post office
Amtrack
etc. etc. etc....
Take every promising, dynamic, growing industry in the U.S., and you will find little to no union presence.
Take every deteriorating, decayed, moribund industry in the U.S., and you will find big, fat unions.
Funny that Germany is ripe with unions, and yet they're very successful. Besides, you're completely wrong.
Europe is basically falling apart right before our very eyes. Even the Chinese said they where suffering from sloth recently. Europe is not a model for anything remotely successful as far as public policy goes.
You must have been reading and watching too much Anglo/American media. For your information, European problems are less than USA problems. Europe is not about to fall apart and if the sky should fall you will be under it as will be all of us.
Strong unions = strong economy. Notice how crappy our economy is? It's cus our unions are crappy. Workers spend money- not owners. Buy American. Support our neighbors and our own jobs.
buy american? no.
It is chinese made product.