The article is furthering the narrative by using words like "denied"
They're not being denied anything - they just have to go through the union as they wished to do.
I miss the days of neutral journalism that just reported the news.
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Apple Employees at Unionized Maryland Store Denied Latest Benefits Provided to Non-Union Workers
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The article is furthering the narrative by using words like "denied"
They're not being denied anything - they just have to go through the union as they wished to do.
I miss the days of neutral journalism that just reported the news.
Obviously Apple is familiar with a concept "to divide and conquer" the workforce. I guess it is not against the rules to be a conceptual.
That’s not how strikes work.
This is normal. There is also a good chance the benefit package is being stalled by the union or being negotiated becuse they feel it is not being good enough. This is how collective bargaining works. Just because the union does not accept these benefits does not mean Apple is forbidden from offering them to non-union employees. They could also be outside the bounds of what is covered by Apple's contract with the Union.
During the height of the pandemic I watched state agencies going through budget crunches have to offer furloughs and early retirement packages to employees to cut costs. Non-union works got the benefits of these offers right away and were able to take advantage of things like federal unemployment benefits that were offered durning the pandemic. The unions balked and drug out negations for months and by the time they finally acquiesced most of the benefits were no longer available and their furloughs were extended to offset the costs incurred during the delay.
During the height of the pandemic I watched state agencies going through budget crunches have to offer furloughs and early retirement packages to employees to cut costs. Non-union works got the benefits of these offers right away and were able to take advantage of things like federal unemployment benefits that were offered durning the pandemic. The unions balked and drug out negations for months and by the time they finally acquiesced most of the benefits were no longer available and their furloughs were extended to offset the costs incurred during the delay.
When should Apple change the benefits for non-union employees? Only union employees are subject to contract terms because that is the point of the union. Apple, despite the optics, can, in accordance with state law, unilaterally change the terms of non-union employees. There is a reason why contracts exist. Union employees are get the benefits and protections per the agreed upon union contract. Now, could Apple have offered these benefits to the union for acceptance and approval? Most likely. But they are under no obligation to do so.
Instead of placing all their workers value above unionization benefits, increase trust and back their statements that they care for their employees anyway and unionization does not worth at all, they show exactly the opposite and serve more reasons why an unionization totally worth.
There is surely a reason why unionization became a topic inside Apple, well treated employees would not even think about it.
Apple gives a 💩 about their employees, just like about their customers, they walk over dead bodies for success.
More will be unionized, you’ll see.
There is surely a reason why unionization became a topic inside Apple, well treated employees would not even think about it.
Apple gives a 💩 about their employees, just like about their customers, they walk over dead bodies for success.
More will be unionized, you’ll see.
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I guess I'm an old-school capitalist, because I think you should be able to pay your employees whatever the heck you want to pay them. If they don't like the pay, they don't have to apply. And if they're already employed, they can find greener land on greener pastures. And if your wages are too poor, or over-the-top-bad, you will go out of business and the system will flush you out and naturally rid itself of your bad businesses decisions/labor practices.
Ah, the free market and personal accountability. What a concept.
Ah, the free market and personal accountability. What a concept.
The ironic thing is Apple probably wouldn't be offering those new funds and health care features if the employees in Maryland didn't unionized. I don't think this is a cool move from Apple.
I sometimes wonder how much Apple loses or gains with each of it physical stores. To me, they look more high lease galleries then say a target or Best Buy, but with in-person help. At a certain point, smash and grabs, unions, and employee mistreatment settlements, are going to have them weigh if juice is worth the squeeze.
In what old school version of capitalism were employees prevented from negotiating their salary and benefits?
They used to have the highest revenue per sq ft of any store. There was a well publicized comparison to Tiffanys. I can’t imagine that they are close to being a liability. Plus their value in supporting online sales makes them even more valuable than there own revenue.
In many places Apple Stores are single-handedly keeping malls afloat. Apple averages about 26% margins on sales in their physical stores. Apple averages about 650K in annual sales per each store employee on an averaging about $9M a year in revenue per store. There is plenty of room for profit even with increasing labor and cost of goods sold.
Per the Apple website, Apple "genius" employees start, in CO, at $17.36/hr. Drove by a McDonalds in Louisville CO that was advertising at $18/hr. Salaries are quickly changing in the retail/service space.
Why was this offered to only non-union employees?
I'm not a lawyer - and this really would need a lawyer - but I suspect it could be discrimination and also wage theft (benefits other than your wage are classified as part of your wage)
Both are highly illegal - here in Australia management can go to jail for ten years if convicted.
Unions-when we your company needs more non-motivated employees.
Apple offered this to non-union employees which demonstrates bad-faith as to employee compensation.
This is no different than if the benefit was applied based on race, gender, age, religion, political affiliation.
I'm not a lawyer - and this really would need a lawyer.
This scenario may be slightly different since different stores have different hiring situations: some stores are unionized and need to follow union rules. That is not true in non-union stores. Further each state has unique labor laws.
In my opinion, unions are bad for workers and customers. They say this, the company I work for is ripping me off and making my workspace unsafe; therefore, we must join together and pay middle managers to demand better benefits, or else!!! The threats usually work to a compromise until the next round, and the company insets the extra costs into the products they sale. I don’t care how much money Apple makes. When you get hired, you are not being paid a percentage of the profits, you are getting a wage or a salary for what you do and what you agreed to do for that amount of money. That’s how much you are worth. Unions should be banned, especially public service unions. Don’t even get me started on them. This is my opinion. Others may disagree.
As someone who has worked at an Apple Store, this is a plain fabrication.
That's incredibly tough to prove.... even if it's so.
Maryland is a very high cost-of-living state that also has a better formally educated population than most. I'm sure the Apple employees were demanding as high of wages and benefits as they could get, just to maintain the type of lifestyle they think they deserve for that type of work. That's fine, but it's just a retail sales job at the end of the day. It's been a LONG time since I felt like anyone in an Apple retail store was a true "computer genius". They give their people pretty good training to have quality interactions with the public, but they're just following directions to plug in testing equipment that says, "Yep - send this out for repair." or "No... checks out good." when they troubleshoot.
Truthfully? It's better to relocate to a place with lower taxes and expenses, if you feel underpaid there.
It's amazing how so many in here don't understand this