Apple Store Employees in New Jersey File to Unionize

[MacRumors]

Apple employees at the Apple Store in Short Hills, New Jersey have petitioned to unionize, reports Bloomberg. Retail store unionization efforts have died down in recent months after locations in Oklahoma and Maryland successfully unionized in 2022.

There are 104 workers at Apple Short Hills, which is located in the Short Hills Mall. Communication Workers of America (CWA) filed a unionization petition with the National Labor Relations Board on behalf of employees earlier this week.

In a statement, the CWA said that forming a union would be the best way to "ensure all Apple workers receive the respect, pay, benefits and working conditions" that they deserve. The group has requested that Apple "not to interfere in our ongoing organizing efforts and, instead, allow workers to freely determine for themselves whether to form a union."

Apple told Bloomberg that it offers "exceptional" benefits and competitive pay to its employees.

We have always paid our retail teams in the top tier of the market. And we provide exceptional and comprehensive benefits for all full- and part-time employees as a part of the overall support we provide to our valued team members.

Following the petition, workers at the store will need to vote on whether to join the union. If a majority decide to do so, the store will unionize. Union employees are able to negotiate with Apple for improved working conditions and benefits. In Maryland, workers have been working to negotiate with Apple for a 10 percent pay increase, tips from customers, and changes to overtime and leave policies.

While two stores have unionized, unionization efforts have failed in other locations. An Apple retail location in St. Louis voted not to unionize, and a store in Atlanta withdrew its request to unionize after alleged interference from Apple. The U.S. National Labor Relations Board said in December 2022 that Apple had violated federal law by holding mandatory anti-union meetings and coercing and interrogating the Atlanta workers.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Article Link: Apple Store Employees in New Jersey File to Unionize

 

[nathan_reilly]

no profit without labor!

 

[Blackstick]

No issues here. Tim Cook is a god damn billionaire. He can make sure the foot soldiers are properly paid. These Apple Store specialists and geniuses are part of why Apple is where it is. Because people like my mom, and your aging grandparents, can walk into any nice mall in the country and find help with their iPhone or MacBook.

No other technology company offers that local service to them for free, so they pick Apple.

 

[iObama]

The U.S. National Labor Relations Board said in December 2022 that Apple had violated federal law by holding mandatory anti-union meetings and coercing and interrogating the Atlanta workers.

Okay...? Was there any punishment for this? Or did they just "say"?

 

[I7guy]

Good luck to them.

 

[mjs916]

“tips from customers”

LOL, what is this all about? Just because it’s called the Genius BAR doesn’t mean we need to tip for service.

 

[now i see it]

Apple Store Employees in New Jersey are not happy working there

 

[klasma]

Okay...? Was there any punishment for this? Or did they just "say"?

From the original source: “The agency can require remedies, such as posting of notices and reversals of policies or punishments, but it has no authority to impose punitive damages on companies.” (https://archive.ph/ld0KF)

 

[Mojohanna32]

What's the average hourly pay at a retail store?
The following seem to be pretty standard:
Apple Benefits

• Stocks.
• Health insurance.
• Dental insurance.
• Retirement savings accounts with a 401(k) match.
• Reimbursement for some types of education.
• Matching donations up to $10,000 per year.
• Paid family leave.
• Discounts on products and some free services.

What's bad about working at the retail locations (other than dealing with retail settings, hours, etc.?)

I am curious as to what is driving the perceived need to organize.

I've never worked at an Apple store, but every one I have been to seems to be pretty well staffed, clean, and organized.

 

[Bigkool2inSC]

Find another job that will pay you what you are worth.
Stopping trying to get paid more than what you think you are actually worth..

Apple store employees act like they are going to make a career out of working at a Apple store.
It's a revolving door at places like that.. especially ones in the mall.

don't hate, you know it's true..

 

[icanhazmac]

No issues here. Tim Cook is a god damn billionaire. He can make sure the foot soldiers are properly paid.

Ok, I'll play. Please define "properly paid". Be specific.

Edit: 6 hours in and no one has defined "properly paid" in a specific way yet.

 

[Supermallet]

Good, they should unionize and so should the rest of the Apple stores.

 

[Bigkool2inSC]

Ok, I'll play. Please define "properly paid". Be specific.

My definition would be,

what your time is worth to that business, which is disclosed during the hire process.
you don't like it, negotiate if you are willing to or don't accept the job offer.

pretty straight forward to me..

 

[Lakersfan74]

Seems low skill workers think they deserve more.

 

[Mojohanna32]

Good, they should unionize and so should the rest of the Apple stores.

Why? do we know for a fact that there is a real need to unionize?

 

[erikkfi]

Apple told Bloomberg that it offers "exceptional" benefits and competitive pay to its employees.

Cool, and if that's true you can keep doing it through a collective bargaining agreement!

 

[Yammabot]

So they get paid and have benefits for what little they know and can do and let’s be frank cause we’ve all been to an Apple Store. You’ve got to be kidding me. Don’t even get me started on tipping that whole thing needs to be abolished.

 

[Supermallet]

Find another job that will pay you what you are worth.
Stopping trying to get paid more than what you think you are actually worth..

Apple store employees act like they are going to make a career out of working at a Apple store.
It's a revolving door at places like that.. especially ones in the mall.

don't hate, you know it's true..

Why shouldn’t they get paid more? Apple has literally billions of dollars to waste on stupidity like autonomous cars that they then shutter. Retail workers at Apple stores do the vast majority of the customer interfacing for Apple. Pay them more.

 

[Supermallet]

Why? do we know for a fact that there is a real need to unionize?

Because unions are a net benefit to workers, that’s why.

 

[PlayUltimate]

Cool, and if that's true you can keep doing it through a collective bargaining agreement!

Collective bargaining means that all employees get to be paid in a specific range. In teaching, which is not the same but is unionized, hard to hire teachers (ie. STEM) are paid the same as all other teachers with similar academic credentials and years of experience.

 

[PlayUltimate]

Why shouldn’t they get paid more? Apple has literally billions of dollars to waste on stupidity like autonomous cars that they then shutter. Retail workers at Apple stores do the vast majority of the customer interfacing for Apple. Pay them more.

Ummmm. . . . I assume that Apple invested in autonomous cars on the hope of a return on that investment. Your comment presumes that Apple just decided to just throw money away.

 

[Bigkool2inSC]

Why shouldn’t they get paid more? Apple has literally billions of dollars to waste on stupidity like autonomous cars that they then shutter. Retail workers at Apple stores do the vast majority of the customer interfacing for Apple. Pay them more.

the problem with "more" is that it is never is or will be enough.

I don't know what anyone on this thread makes but i dare to say not one of them would say.....

" I make exactly what i am worth and I happy with it, I don't want or need more, thank you employer"

 

[Lakersfan74]

Why shouldn’t they get paid more? Apple has literally billions of dollars to waste on stupidity like autonomous cars that they then shutter. Retail workers at Apple stores do the vast majority of the customer interfacing for Apple. Pay them more.

A high school diploma doesn’t have that much value

 

[klasma]

I am curious as to what is driving the perceived need to organize.

It’s any workers’ right to unionize. There doesn’t need to be anything bad happening to justify it. The purpose is to counter the power imbalance between individual workers and the company, in order to prevent possible abuse.

The fact that Apple is pushing so strongly against unionization can be taken as an indication that they prefer maintaining the power imbalance.

Interestingly, there’s a whole Wikipedia article about this topic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_and_unions

 

[Supermallet]

A high school diploma doesn’t have that much value

Good thing they’re not being paid for their diploma, but for the work they do that makes Apple money, more money than Apple pays them.

Ummmm. . . . I assume that Apple invested in autonomous cars on the hope of a return on that investment. Your comment presumes that Apple just decided to just throw money away.

Paying employees more is an investment too, workers who make more are happier and work harder. It’s a much simpler ROI than autonomous cars.

the problem with "more" is that it is never is or will be enough.

I don't know what anyone on this thread makes but i dare to say not one of them would say.....

" I make exactly what i am worth and I happy with it, I don't want or need more, thank you employer"

So it’s wrong for people to want to make more money? People here swoon and wet their pants when Apple’s stock goes up half a point, why is it that Apple the company wants to make more money and that’s good but when the employees of Apple want more money, they’re entitled, or asking too much?

It blows my mind how many people are opposed to workers improving their working conditions. I highly doubt anyone posting here is a billionaire, so we’re all much closer financially to retail workers than we are to CEOs. How does someone else improving their conditions make your life worse that you’re so vehemently against it?