Apple continuing full-court press against retail unionization efforts
Apple has been addressing unionization drives by discussing a host of anti-union talking points at several more of its Apple Store locations in Maryland and Virginia.
Apple Towson Town Center
One employee who said they work at "Apple Townsend" -- likely meaning Apple Towson Town Center in Maryland -- said that company representatives recently gave anti-union talking points, including the fact that a union could slow down schedule changes and that recent pay raises were not the result of unionization efforts.
AppleInsider has confirmed the location and timing of the efforts in Towson, Maryland.
Meanwhile, about 70 miles down I-95, Apple has also been holding anti-union meetings at Apple Reston in Virginia, one staffer told AppleInsider in an email. The employee said Apple Market Leaders came to the store and used the closure of recent unionized Starbucks stores as a negative example of union pushes. We were also able to confirm these meetings through other sources.
There has been a growing effort to unionize, both at Apple retail locations and at other companies.
An Apple Store in Atlanta, Georgia was the first retail location to organize earlier in 2022. Since then, retail locations in Kentucky, New York City, and elsewhere have also made similar moves.
This is not the first time that Apple has made moves to counter unionization efforts.
Deirdre O'Brien, Apple's chief of retail and people, has pushed back against the union pushes, saying that the relationship between Apple and its employees could be "fundamentally changed" under unionization.
Apple was also said to be circulating anti-union talking points to store mangers earlier in May. In April, it hired lawyers known for busting unions.
Union organizers across Apple's retail footprint say that pay has fallen below living wages in many markets, including Atlanta.
There has been a growing movement to unionize, both at Apple and elsewhere. Many Starbucks stores are moving to unionize and have faced retaliation from the company. Amazon warehouse workers also voted to become the first union at the retail giant earlier in 2022.
Unionization efforts have also gained support from both customers and public figures. Back in June, President Joe Biden congratulated Apple workers in Maryland for voting to join a union, saying he was "proud of them."
Read on AppleInsider
Apple Towson Town Center
One employee who said they work at "Apple Townsend" -- likely meaning Apple Towson Town Center in Maryland -- said that company representatives recently gave anti-union talking points, including the fact that a union could slow down schedule changes and that recent pay raises were not the result of unionization efforts.
Apple Addressing Townsend Unionization at Download Today!
Before starting it was made VERY CLEAR we could leave at any time and was under no obligation to listen to this part of the download
Key Talking points:
- Talked About Townsend and how nothing has changed so far.
1/-- Pulled from Repair (@PulledfrmRepair)
AppleInsider has confirmed the location and timing of the efforts in Towson, Maryland.
Meanwhile, about 70 miles down I-95, Apple has also been holding anti-union meetings at Apple Reston in Virginia, one staffer told AppleInsider in an email. The employee said Apple Market Leaders came to the store and used the closure of recent unionized Starbucks stores as a negative example of union pushes. We were also able to confirm these meetings through other sources.
There has been a growing effort to unionize, both at Apple retail locations and at other companies.
An Apple Store in Atlanta, Georgia was the first retail location to organize earlier in 2022. Since then, retail locations in Kentucky, New York City, and elsewhere have also made similar moves.
This is not the first time that Apple has made moves to counter unionization efforts.
Deirdre O'Brien, Apple's chief of retail and people, has pushed back against the union pushes, saying that the relationship between Apple and its employees could be "fundamentally changed" under unionization.
Apple was also said to be circulating anti-union talking points to store mangers earlier in May. In April, it hired lawyers known for busting unions.
Union organizers across Apple's retail footprint say that pay has fallen below living wages in many markets, including Atlanta.
There has been a growing movement to unionize, both at Apple and elsewhere. Many Starbucks stores are moving to unionize and have faced retaliation from the company. Amazon warehouse workers also voted to become the first union at the retail giant earlier in 2022.
Unionization efforts have also gained support from both customers and public figures. Back in June, President Joe Biden congratulated Apple workers in Maryland for voting to join a union, saying he was "proud of them."
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
Apple should go to court and challenge the Wagner Act itself. That would finish off unions in the US.
Gotta say, I've never been in a union and have never been terribly pro-union.
My dad worked as a pharmacist for Walgreens and when they were unionizing they threatened to break his legs if he didn't join.
My dad resisted and Walgreens actually made him part of the management team to isolate him from the threats. Not sure if they gave him management duties or elevated his pay, but I think the objective was just to remove him from that sphere of vulnerability.
A lot of things that happen to your family color your perception - for instance I was a staunch republican because my parents moved to the midwest to avoid being put in a prison camp (they called them internment camps) in California. Even J. Edgar at first refused to have the FBI round up the Japanese, but was told by Roosevelt he'd simply find someone else who would do it.
Of course, once Trump was elected (I sat out that election) it cured me of that staunch republicanism - especially now that the GOP's gone flat out batshit crazy.
The efforts may not work as well at Apple, but best believe that there will be more Apple locations unionizing, and that in response Apple will be forced to increase pay & benefits, and improve working conditions with employee input. Whether the unions win elections or not, they have won in a very big sense. And that's a good thing.
It's not really the sole responsibility of a company to pay a "living wage" whatever that really means. You should pay a going rate for a type of job, (ideally higher than the going rate to attract and keep better employees), and offer benefits and incentives whenever possible. All retailers are "competing" with one another for those in that general job definition pool, so can individual can go elsewhere - if enough do, then the business losing people would have to respond. But a living wage? The problem with that bar is that, well, the cost of "living" is not in the control of a hiring business. Perhaps not Apple, but many business do not have the fiscal resources to meet a "living wage" definition as though they bear sole responsibility. Taxes, housing, money printing, bad fiscal and trade policy, a fairly well-broken public education system and more all put direct or delayed inflationary pressures on what it costs to live or the means to pay your way. These are factors largely NOT in control of businesses hiring workers. They can't "make up the difference" anywhere close to a dollar for dollar way. Some companies try and help; Apple and others are funding affordable housing projects in California, and they fund various education and coding initiatives. but that's above and beyond what a significant majority of business can afford to do. And of course, increasing wages and benefits only does one thing - increases cost of doing business and thus the cost of the products and services everyone - including those works - has to shell out. Ontop of this, I thought Apple actually pays pretty well (starting at $22 an hour) and has good benefits for retail workers, which are not rarified or highly skill pool of workers (not denigrating but they are not doctors or engineers....and I worked retail for years when I started, spare be the moaning of how difficult it is.) This is more about the unions going after a cash-rich target, not trying to save workers from an exploitative company. That's NOT to say Apple hasn't made mistakes, but overall? Be real....
I think these retail workers forget they're still working in retail. Are their positions a little more skilled yes, but they're also paid more than most other retail jobs. They also get health insurance (or at least the opportunity to get it) whether they're part or full time employees. They also get massive discounts on certain Apple products. They get a great benefits package most retail workers don't get. It's like they want Apple Corporate benefits for working in Apple Retail.
Unions are a mixed bag. There’s positives and negatives. I was personally in a union twice and that worked out pretty well. But in another more creative position, when there was talk of unionizing, I probably would have voted against it had it come to that.
If the Surgeon, however, is unable to come to work, a nurse, orderly or some other hospital personnel other than another doctor, could not be expected to be able to step in. The role of heart surgeon is highly specialized, requiring advance medical knowledge and experience. And the attainment of this knowledge and experience, over a long period of time and at great personal effort, allows the surgeon to perform what those without that experience and knowledge could not reliably perform. This makes the surgeon far more valuable than the person who cleans the blood off the operating room floor.
i know about 100 very computer and Apple literate 18 year olds from the high schools in my area that just graduated and would love to work at Apple .
other retail workers simply do not get the benefits Apple workers get.
And actually, union workers (there are probably two or three left) who were hired by Safeways in my part of the country before about 1985 have similar benefits, and better pay. Though admittedly they don't get discounts on Apple hardware.
To think the 40 hour work week as we know it in the United States is only about 108 years old….
“On 5 January 1914 the Ford Motor Company took the radical step of doubling pay to $5 a day (adjusted for inflation: $129.55 as of 2020) and cut shifts from nine hours to eight, moves that were not popular with rival companies, although seeing the increase in Ford's productivity, and a significant increase in profit margin (from $30 million to $60 million in two years), most soon followed suit.
In the summer of 1915, amid increased labor demand for World War I, a series of strikes demanding the eight-hour day began in Bridgeport, Connecticut. They were so successful that they spread throughout the Northeast. The United States Adamson Act in 1916 established an eight-hour day, with additional pay for overtime, for railroad workers. This was the first federal law that regulated the hours of workers in private companies. The United States Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Act in Wilson v. New, 243 U.S. 332 (1917).
The eight-hour day might have been realized for many working people in the US in 1937, when what became the Fair Labor Standards Act (29 U.S. Code Chapter 8) was first proposed under the New Deal. As enacted, the act applied to industries whose combined employment represented about twenty percent of the US labor force. In those industries, it set the maximum workweek at 40 hours, but provided that employees working beyond 40 hours a week would receive additional overtime bonus salaries.”
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight-hour_day#United_States
People forget Unions are the main reason for most of the benefits all workers get in the US. The fight started not long after 1776…