get serious

red oak said:

ionicle said:

radarthekat said:

Apple invests a tremendous amount to build out and operate a physical store.  It would seem proper that they would then have the lion's share of control over the operations that go on within that store, including authority to determine pay and benefits. 

What doesn't seem proper to me, and this is my issue with unions, is that a disproportionate amount of control should find its way into the hands of a group of people who have relatively little invested into the store or at risk with regard to the total cost of the store and its ongoing operation.  Unionized workers ability to shut down an entire store under certain conditions seems way out of proportion to their investment in the design and engineering and corporate decision and management processes required to have brought such a sophisticated operation into existence, to keep it supplied, to do all its marketing and to develop its efficient management and operations plan.  

Workers provide valuable service to an Apple Store, but that value is compensated via the pay and benefits they agreed to when they took the job. 

Perhaps I am naive (I'm sure I'll be educated here by some posters if I'm not seeing this clearly), but it just seems to me that unions sometimes wield disproportionate power relative to their contribution of required investment to establish and feed an enterprise such as an Apple Store.  

Seems to me that their right to vote with their feet, combined with the protections of the labor and workplace safety laws, is adequate balance on their side of the ledger.  

I never worked in any unionized business.  My high school diploma meant that I started out in a $6.50/hour job, in 1985, and it was through my contributions that I climbed the ladder to one day become co-founder and VP of product development of my third startup.  Perhaps this colors my views, which are that you gain the power to make changes and wield authority by moving up through the ranks.  My years of military service prior to 1985 may also have colored my view.  You get it when you earn it, not by banding together to revolt, in a manner of speaking. 

/rant

In fairness i never saw it from the other side….

from my perspective, when the boss turns up in a new mercedes s-class with all the bells and whistles then claims he cant afford to pay staff more than minimum wage… really enrages me, and makes me want to fight back, as without the workers working for minimum wage, the business would grind to a halt and he wouldnt be able to afford that car, his 5 bed detached house and acres of land or anything else, im not saying he shouldnt benefit from building a business, he absolutely should, but why should i be driving a 16 year old car, struggling to put food on the table while he changes his brand new car every year when i am one of the people making him so much money…

He should slow down his spending a bit and give us a pay rise so we can afford to live a bit more comfortably, i doubt it would hit his living standards too bad if he gave us all an extra few quid per hour….

it goes both ways, we have no union, but i feel if we did we might be able to get a better deal

It is YOUR responsibility to improve yourself and make yourself more valuable in the workforce.   Education, certificates, taking risk, working harder than the next person.   Create your own opportunities.  The owners you criticize are the ones paying 50%+ of all the taxes 

Corporations pay 4% of US taxes. Individuals Pay over 40% of US taxes. 

I worked Apple Retail from '07 until recently after working 20+ years in other places both retail and non-retail. Apple's retail challenges lie with the lack of investment in store leadership training. Way back retail grew so fast a new hire could be a key holder in months. Then as Gap and other retailers collapsed in 2008-2009 Gaposis took over. Instead of hiring from within, store leaders were wedged in front of deserving employees. Nothing worse than long time dedicated employees having to train store managers in both Apple Culture and Apple technologies. Then Ron Johnson moved on and Cook was interim VP of retail for two years. And number counting began in ernest. Tim hired Browett, which was a complete HR disaster. Then Angela came along with the reimagining. 
Since the battery replacement program corporate has begun to appreciate what retail can do. Higher pay, benefits for part time workers, more restricted stock grants, leave and vacation increases, tuition reimbursement. Heck paying every retail employee to stay home through out the pandemic. Including paying part timers their average from the holiday quarter.
The friction is middle managers. They are the ones putting up the upsell tree and jacking the antiunion messaging. Most have never had a management course and especially the old school Ron Johnson/Steve Jobs retail messaging. There are still people in Apple Retail that, as Steve would say, "bleed in Six Colors" we'll see if Dierdre can remember those days.

Apple Retail has come along way in the 15 years I've been involved. Way back employees often didn't get their schedules until one or two days before the new work week. "Needs of the business" was the reasoning when in reality it was overloaded store leaders and short (read cheap) staffing. Store Leaders were still manually writing schedules up until 2017 in stores with 100+ employees. Retail was the redheaded stepchild of Apple until the battery replacement program when tens of millions of batteries had to be replaced. Corporate then began to realize the power of personal customer service. Apple has come a long way and are way better than a lot of employers. That said they've been weak at store leadership training. Apple is about experiential training and learning from mistakes. When managing people those mistakes impact peoples lives. If it weren't for employee's dedication to the Apple mythos their problems would be much worse.

Attention realtors, home shoppers and TV home design mavens.

Pretty safe way to get your name in the news. Kudos to his publicist.