Good going Cook, you're living up to the left's stereotype of being a maniacal capitalist that wants to sqeeze the last drop of blood out of your enployees. But hey - you did participate in those pride events so that kinda makes you "cool", doesn't it?
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Apple Violated U.S. Labor Laws With Anti-Leak Email
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The average Apple salary is $143K. It's a lot but it's not unheard of in a lot of other industries. Not everyone is making Tim Cook bucks.
NDAs don't overrule the law of the land. As @atomic.flip points out in this thread: "This particular email was concerning leaks related to labor conditions. Like pay wages and vaccination policy. These things are not proprietary or intellectual property per se. And they are protected from being deemed as such by federal employment laws."
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Well it was still internal and for their-eyes-only. Leaking might make sites like this go around, but I understand Apples frustration with it
Why? This is just another organization that twists "rights" in a self-serving life mission. It's sad and pathetic how some groups of people perceive things. No rights were violated. No laws were broken with that email. They are manufacturing "evidence" to make a case.
Reading the article, am I therefore understanding this correctly?, Apple, as with many many other companies, have rules and polices about leaking company information which can result in person or persons being fired and the NLRB are saying this violates labor laws because these rules/polices "tend to interfere with, restrain or coerce employees".
The NLRB have got some balls if they are saying a company does not have the right to keep it's information private.
The NLRB have got some balls if they are saying a company does not have the right to keep it's information private.
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the problem is that when companies get this big and valuable they know they can essentially do anything as any fine they get is simply a drop in the ocean.
Why make such a post? If I've not understood it correctly then explain where my errors is and put it right. Don't just make a post saying i am in error.
The part you didn't read correctly is this:
"Cook's email wasn't referencing a product leak, but was instead aimed at employees who had shared details about a meeting focused on pay equity, working from home, COVID vaccinations, and more."
Apple can have policies about leaking trade secrets. What NLRB is saying that they can't have policies about leaking labor memos. Labor is allowed to organize internally.
They pay pretty average wages by SV standards.
OK, maybe, but that isn't relevant. Local purchasing power matters. Workers need to pay rent.
You can sign things that are legally void.
And how did you come to the conclusion that he should go? I am still happy with the product lineup and waiting for the next 5 years of new products under cook. Under him we have seen a major architecture change , new products and Apple becoming so popular. Only Samsung well wishers would want change, so that Samsung might make some money from Phone business finally.
The number of cases of corporate espionage by Chinese spies in US companies are at an alltime high. Its a fair request to keep company secrets a secret. You get paid to keep secrets these organisations must be funded by Samsung and other Chinese companies.
The minimum wage is literally set by the government. However minimum wage is also a terrible idea since you're inflating the value of low skilled workers and harming the ones who can't get jobs. In some states like California you can't even offer internships to low-skilled people, further limiting their growth opportunities.
We need less government intrusion in our lives.
Okay so setting aside what the actual leaks are about. Companies aren't able to prevent employees from leaking confidential info about the company? What if they want to protect potential products they are working on to prevent other companies from learning about it and working on a similar product to compete? What if its an advanced technology that only they know of? I just feel like the article didn't give enough info. I can't imagine that companies dont have the right to prevent IP leaks?
You probably want people to die because they can’t afford health care in the richest country in the world as well
actually they don't
they can put it into an employment contract, but it's not enforceable. just like putting a clause in a contract saying they can shoot you in the head if you use the wrong toiler is not enforceable.
just because something is in a contract doesn't automatically make it legal or enforceable.
Are you really arguing that paying people less than a liveable wage (which is what minimum wage is in most places in America) is already paying them too much? And you expect people to take anything you say seriously after that?
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No, you can't "set that aside".
They can do that.
They do. This is specifically about labor-related leaks.
NDA is about a product, pipeline, research, etc. It’s not about a meeting where equal pay or COVID policies are discussed. This has gone way beyond where any free society should tolerate secrecy. This is in violation of basic rights of people, whom Apple and other companies treat like voiceless robots.
I’m not convinced that pay and bargaining is what Tim Cook was referring to. He is talking about deliberate IP leaks to journalists, competitors, or foreign governments. Most of the leaks are from Apple’s supply chain, from contracts that had to legally disclose some information, or accidental leaks through source code, but there have been a few notable internal leaks which were significant around the time the letter was penned. I don’t see how that letter violates laws.
It is true that there have been documented cases of lower level managers that violate employee rights and there have been unlawful terminations over discussing pay. I think you will find some of those violations in any large company partly due to incompetence of managers that improperly apply rules. Particularly in tech where they may not have been hired for their HR skills. I don’t recall noteworthy cases of improper firing in the last year, so I feel Apple has learned and improved in following the law since some of those cases.
Union busting is a more deliberate reason and I’m sure higher level execs have participated in condoning that. Companies like Apple are afraid of losing executive control over their companies almost to paranoid levels. Although Apple might take it too far sometimes, unions may also take things too far and interfere with a companies right to form contracts. I really don’t think either side is purely good.
It is true that there have been documented cases of lower level managers that violate employee rights and there have been unlawful terminations over discussing pay. I think you will find some of those violations in any large company partly due to incompetence of managers that improperly apply rules. Particularly in tech where they may not have been hired for their HR skills. I don’t recall noteworthy cases of improper firing in the last year, so I feel Apple has learned and improved in following the law since some of those cases.
Union busting is a more deliberate reason and I’m sure higher level execs have participated in condoning that. Companies like Apple are afraid of losing executive control over their companies almost to paranoid levels. Although Apple might take it too far sometimes, unions may also take things too far and interfere with a companies right to form contracts. I really don’t think either side is purely good.
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