Apple Store employees who want to unionize use Android phones to secretly communicate so their bosses can’t snoop
- Apple employees at several stores across the country are secretly plotting to unionize and havre taken to using Android phones to prevent bosses snooping
- Push to unionize comes as dissent grows among hourly-waged workers
- At least two US Apple retail locations are already close to unionizing while having the support of major national unions
- A further six other stores are also in the process of unionizing as well
- Apple has over 500 retail locations worldwide and more than 270 in the US
- Apple workers want better conditions including higher wages and sick pay
- Employees have been encouraged to pursue unionization after some successful efforts at other major corporate retail franchises, like Starbucks and Amazon
Employees at many Apple stores across the United States are working to unionize and are using rival Android phones to organize and prevent their bosses from finding out about the efforts.
The move comes against the backdrop of unionization efforts gaining momentum at large U.S. corporations, including Amazon and Starbucks.
Employee groups based at at least two Apple retail stores are backed by major national unions and are preparing to file paperwork with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in the near future, according to a report by the Washington Post.
It details how at least six more locations are at less advanced stages in the unionization process. Apple has more than 65,000 retail workers at its nearly 300 stores around the country.
The average Apple retail sales associate makes about $30,472 a year – which is 24 percent below the national average.
To avoid having their unionization plans detected by those in management, workers have been setting up secret meetings by using encrypted messaging on the operating system made by Apple’s main competitor, according to the Post.
Employees at many Apple stores across the United States are working to unionize and are using their rival’s phones, Android, in order to organize and prevent bosses from snooping on their efforts
Workers at two Apple stores, which have not been identified by location, are already close to unionizing and are being supported by two major unions as they prepare to file paperwork with the National Labor Relations Board. Pictured, an Apple retail location on Fifth Avenue in New York City
‘I have a lot of co-workers and friends who I genuinely love and they do not make enough to get by,’ said one labor organizer who works at an Apple retail store.
‘They’re struggling and they’re hurting and we work for a company that has the resources to make sure that they’re taken care of.’
So far, Apple and the NLRB have not responded to requests for comment.
On Christmas Eve, over 50 Apple retail employees even walked off the job in protest of working conditions, with demands including a more respectful workplace and paid sick time.
Apple is said to have offered raises to some retail employees but the amount is paltry, with some receiving an increase of less than one dollar an hour. Many were hoping for more than $5 extra.
The effort to unionize has been spurred on by low salaries, which continue to stagnate below the rate of inflation – which hit a 40-year high of 7.5 percent this month. They also want the company – which is now the world’s most valuable – to share more of its record-setting profits.
Apple employees looking to unionize have penned an open letter to management
Employees interviewed by the Post stated Apple’s hourly rates are typically in line with other retail jobs in the regions where they work. However, several Apple workers pointed out the massive amount of revenue the tech giant, which is valued at $3 trillion, makes in comparison to other retailers.
Apple’s stock price closed at 167.30 on Monday, and has increased nearly 33 percent over the past year as its iPhones, iPads, laptops and desktops remain in hot demand.
Apple retail employees told the Post that they believe the company’s sales are largely driven by their passion and knowledge of the products in which they sell, and added that they should received a larger share of the company’s financial success.
Apple has 270 stores in the country and made 36 percent of its total $365.82 billion net sales in fiscal 2021 through its retail stores and website, according to a regulatory filing.
Apple boss Tim Cook’s pay last year was 1,447 times that of the average employee at the tech giant, fueled by stock awards that helped him earn a total of nearly $100 million
Apple CEO Tim Cook’s pay last year was 1,447 times that of the average employee, fueled by stock awards that helped him earn a total of nearly $100 million.
The company had decided to temporarily shutter several outlets across the United States during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last year, it planned to give store workers a one-time bonus of as much as $1,000, Bloomberg News had reported in September, amid tight labor market conditions and unrest among employees.
Apple spokesman Josh Rosenstock had previously addressed the matter of unionization at its retail stores, however he did not go into specific details regarding ’employee matters.’
‘We are and have always been deeply committed to creating and maintaining a positive and inclusive workplace. We take all concerns seriously and we thoroughly investigate whenever a concern is raised and, out of respect for the privacy of any individuals involved, we do not discuss specific employee matters,’ Rosenstock said.
Apple employees have been encouraged to pursue unionization after recent successful efforts to unionize at other major corporate retail franchises.
In December, workers voted to make a Buffalo Starbucks the first company-owned cafe in the United States with a union
Starbucks employees celebrate after the votes are counted, in December in Buffalo, New York
In December, baristas at a Starbucks in Buffalo voted to establish the first union at one of the coffee giant’s company-owned shops as workers continue to flex their might in a tight labor market that has seen millions quit their jobs.
Employees celebrated at the union office as the campaign won a decisive majority at the company’s Elmwood Avenue location in the western New York city near the Canadian border.
It is the first union formed in Starbucks’s 50-year history – and comes as some 4.2 million Americans left their jobs in October, part of a phenomenon dubbed ‘The Great Resignation’ that has added to the tightness in labor markets.
However, not every effort to unionize has ended up a success story, and recent backlash faced by a different Starbucks location that attempted to unionize could portend similar issues for Apple employees.
A Starbucks location in Memphis, Tennessee fired seven workers who tried to form a union and gave interviews with the media last month without authorization.
The former employees were attempting to unionize the 20 store workers in mid-January and held an interview with WMCA News 5 inside the shop, after business hours, which Starbucks says broke company safety and security policies.
The seven employees were fired last Tuesday, but they were joined by the Memphis Restaurant Workers United labor group to protest outside the coffee shop.
Starbucks fired a handful of employees in Memphis who were seeking to unionize their store last Tuesday, citing policy violations
The fired workers and members of the Memphis Restaurant Workers United labor group protested outside the coffee shop on Tuesday. Starbucks has denied claims that the employees were fired as retaliation, instead saying they violated safety policies
Sanchez and other employees said Starbucks fired them to try and sway the union vote this week among the 13 other workers who remain
Seven Starbucks employees were fired last Tuesday after they attempted to unionize and held an interview with local television station WMCA News 5 last month
With Amazon, the battle to unionize workers is also intensifying after labor officials officially set a date for a union election in a New York City facility next month.
The election, which will be held in-person, is slated for between March 25-30, confirmed the National Labor Relations Board last Thursday.
The ballot count will be conducted on March 31. An independent and fledgling group called the Amazon Labor Union is spearheading the push.
Meanwhile, Amazon workers in a Bessemer, Alabama facility are voting by mail for the second time on whether to form a union.
The voting started February 4, and ballots must be returned to the NLRB regional office by March 25. Vote counting starts on March 28.
The push in Bessemer comes more than two months after the NLRB ordered a do-over election upon determining that Amazon unfairly influenced the first election last year.
This week, more than 6,000 Amazon workers in Bessemer, Alabama, are voting to determine whether or not they’ll unionize after employees initially voted no earlier this year
Workers back then overwhelmingly rejected the union in a vote of 1,798 to 738 and a turnout of 53%.
The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which like last time is spearheading the union drive, has solicited help from other unions, including those representing teachers and postal clerks.
If either group is successful, it would mark the first unionized Amazon facility in the U.S. The elections will also once again put a spotlight back on Amazon and how it treats its workers.
Pro-union warehouse workers have complained of long shifts and little time to take breaks. Amazon is the nation’s second largest private employer behind Walmart.
‘We look forward to having our employees´ voices heard,’ said Amazon spokeswoman Kelly Nantel in a statement emailed to The Associated Press. ‘Our focus remains on working directly with our team to make Amazon a great place to work.’
The union drive in New York City is being led by a former Amazon employee, Christian Smalls, who said he was fired just hours after he organized a walkout to protest working conditions last year at the outset of the pandemic.
People hold placards during a protest in support of Amazon workers in Union Square, New York, pictured on Sunday. Backers of a unionization drive at an Amazon warehouse in New York announced last week they had reached agreement with the e-commerce giant
Source: Read Full Article
