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Apple Holds Meeting With Retail Staff to Discuss Recent Unionization Activities
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Ok.
And when you go in to get your iPhone looked at, feel free to wait in a very long line while the single person allowed to look at it is on lunch break. Yes, 5 other employees COULD help you, but union laws dictate that is NOT THEIR JOB.
Also hope that person is good and not just there a long time and got promoted for seniority and not actual job performance.
Because they only overpay greedy stockholder driven Corps proudly, workers are another specie.
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How is that good for me? I am not in a union. You just listed 5 ways to make prices higher. I understand unions can be good for some union members…but without strong pro union laws they die because the market votes that businesses with them fail due to less ability to compete, to fire people, etc. So the benefits to the workers are clear but it an economic dead weight loss on society.
This just in, some of the best paid retail employees in the US are forming a union in order to negotiate more pay. More at 11.
Jokes aside I wish these people the best, but they should realize they are definitely coming from a very privileged position.
Jokes aside I wish these people the best, but they should realize they are definitely coming from a very privileged position.
I kind of want to see what happens when Apple denies a ~10% "counter-inflation" raise from the Maryland union.
You literally just said you don’t care about US employees so long as it keeps your prices low. Corporate slavery with slave wages and slave benefits is not an acceptable trade-off to me for lower prices.
And prices wouldn’t *have* to increase. Apple made something like $60 billion in profit last year. It would eat into their margins very little to pay better and allow better benefits.
It’s this defeatist mindset that allows everything to be about shareholders, shareholders, shareholders. The ratio of humanity vs. money-making is way out of whack in our current form of capitalism.
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Whether a Union is good or bad depends on the Union, the Union management, and the store management. There is no absolute good and bad here. Only time will tell. But we do know that if Apple thinks it can lie about the timing of raises, then that does not bode well for Apple. Lying and other underhanded management actions is one of the top reasons to get a Union.
You realize Apple already does this right? Sales people aren’t trained to fix phones, genius’ aren’t trained to handle inventory, Today at Apple people aren’t trained to run the floor.
In the States, people worry more about ensuring prices are low for themselves than that the companies who sell stuff are really being good citizens. In fact, I am not sure that most Americans have any expectation at all that employers are responsible good citizens. So, if a McDonald's employee cannot easily afford to buy a McDonald's burger for lunch, few in America care. Many only care about the price they personally pay. Americans by culture have a tough time seeing how interconnected things really are. That is why we often forget that high rates of poverty and high rates of crime go hand in hand. But we also blame the poor for being poor like it is all due to personal failings. We are overall a pretty shallow bunch, sadly. It wasn't always like this, I do not believe it was anyway.
I’m happy about the pro union mentality. In my experience this forum can skew conservative so I’m pleasantly surprised
An Apple Store Union bargaining urvey asked employees to choose up to three issues out of a list of 8. I always wondered what they wanted. (Seems like the Towson store had a run of bad management as half of the top 8 are handled at the store level. It remains to be seen how valuable these employees are to Apple… and whether or not they want the same folks working there for 20 years… we all have seen on these forums what happens when folks are exposed to Apple for 20 years 
)
And there’s a list broken into more detail where the employee chooses on a range from “Not Important” to “Essential”.
)Wage increases
Improvements to health & welfare benefits
Medical costs containment
Retirement (i.e., 401(k), pension)
Scheduling issues
Improved paid time off (i.e., vacation, holidays, sick leave)
Respect from employer
Increase staffing
And there’s a list broken into more detail where the employee chooses on a range from “Not Important” to “Essential”.
General wage increases
Transparency on wages/pay brackets
Premium pay for special skills (e.g., non-English-speaking employees)
Reduce time it takes to reach maximum rate of pay
Add cost-of-living adjustment
Add pension plan (see attached)
Add profit sharing
Improve 401(k) savings plan
Improve medical coverage
Improve dental coverage
Improve vision coverage
Improve mental health coverage
Improve pet insurance coverage
Improve accident and sickness coverage
Improve life insurance coverage
Medical costs containment
Overtime procedures
Increase paid holidays
More vacation time
Improve sick leave benefits
Improve policies/procedures for approval of paid time off
Improve bereavement pay and/or policy/ies
Implement seniority language (i.e., layoff, recall rights, transfers, promotions & shift prefs)
Improve job security
Respect shown to employees from management
Improve communication from management to employees
Workplace safety and/or security
Health and welfare of employees (i.e., ergonomics, air quality at workplace)
Increase input in work design and/or production numbers (to achieve sustainable workload)
Improve management’s commitment to employee professional growth and development
Clear guidelines for attendance policy
Clear guidelines for promotions
Improve scheduling and availability
Improve work-life balance
Implement four-day work week
Implement one work-from-home day per pay week
Improve “clocking-in/out” policies
Increase staffing
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For someone who was a union worker for 22 years. The union did nothing for me. They protected the lazy workers. You were promoted by seniority not whether you were the best suited for the job. On the day we were all laid off from Westinghouse they union reps all took vacation days. Thee were no layoff benefits from the union but Westinghouse provide benefits for a year.
My jobs after that were all non-union including working 10 years at the apple store in Pgh. I felt I was treated fairly there. The pay was fine, discounts, training, etc. With no union it up to the individual to be a good worker and get a head.
My jobs after that were all non-union including working 10 years at the apple store in Pgh. I felt I was treated fairly there. The pay was fine, discounts, training, etc. With no union it up to the individual to be a good worker and get a head.
Individuals who choose not to join a union (for whatever reason; there a many reasons someone would choose not to join a union), shouldn’t be required to. However, if you do not live in a right-to-work state, that‘s exactly what your forced to do. I used to live in a less free state. I voted with my feet. To each, his or her own.
That is exactly why these large corporations don't want them to take hold...because they'd have to treat their employees better.
Maybe because some of us want to prevent outsourcing more cheap labor to countries with fewer worker protections and/or further price markups?
Stockholm Syndrome.
In Germany unions got us/influenced:
- Paid sick leave
- Paid parental leave
- very good health insurance
- 33 days paid time off in my case
- Security from being fired at will.
And many many more benefits…
Actually that’s the case in many countries. The US is a horrible exception regarding worker‘s right.
In Germany unions got us/influenced:
- Paid sick leave
- Paid parental leave
- very good health insurance
- 33 days paid time off in my case
- Security from being fired at will.
And many many more benefits…
Actually that’s the case in many countries. The US is a horrible exception regarding worker‘s right.
Decades of corporate influence lying to employees how terrible they are.
Then maybe...just spitballing here...this brand isn't good and is showing it's true colors?
Microsoft encourages unionization, especially with the announcement of the Activision-Blizzard purchase they backed the groups unionizing.
How ironic, Apple's old rival does the right thing but Apple won't.
Apple's top execs are making the same story that "union bad" just like they keep making the same "sideloading bad" lies to the US and EU to try to stop anti-trust legislation that would force them to open up, or the soapbox excuses they made to why they can't make the iPhone USB-C.
The rest of these posts hurt my brain
American unions are by and large corrupt to the core. These will be no different.
Good for you. Sucks you give up half your paycheck though…US gov taking a third is ****** enough.
Maybe have a look at other countries. Worker’s rights are terrible in the US. In Germany there are also Apple stores and people are treated a lot better.
And how much do you pay for health insurance then? It’s included here.
Yes, taxes are a bit higher (not that much as you might believe if you factor in some stuff). But the infrastructure (yes it could also be better) and social security is so much better.
Just look at life expectancy, crime, happiness etc. There are statistics.