Employees Say Anti-Union Rhetoric Persists at Apple Retail
Apple Towson Town Center - Image via Apple
22 AUGUST 2022 - Apple seems to have an interesting plan of action on union moves in retail: If you can’t beat ‘em - keep trying to beat ‘em. Apple Insider says the Cupertino-company is continuing its anti-unionization push. That apparently includes continuing to denigrate unionization to employees at Apple Towson Town Center - the Maryland location that successfully unionized earlier this year. The Twitter account of an apparent Apple Genius outlines recent talking points during a start of staff meeting. Over a series of Twitter posts [1, 2, 3] the genius said employees are said to have heard:
How nothing has changed for the store since unionization
How changing schedules is more difficult and takes more time with union involvement
How “they didn't bargain to negotiate when it came to merit increases”
That recent pay hikes were NOT a reaction to unionization moves
How people who voted against a union at a unionized store still have to join the union
How they are allowed to talk about unions and are welcome to bring any questions to management
One thing that makes all of this kind of weird: The employee misspelled Towson. Kept calling it Townsend. Of course that could have been an autocorrect issue and besides, Apple Insider says it was able to confirm the talking points at the Towson store as listed. And it’s not just happening there. The report says:
…about 70 miles down I-95, Apple has also been holding anti-union meetings at Apple Reston in Virginia, one staffer told AppleInsider in an email. The employee said Apple Market Leaders came to the store and used the closure of recent unionized Starbucks stores as a negative example of union pushes.
Sort of saying the quiet part loud there, aren’t you? Also - is Apple really going to close a retail store? Really? And have people believe that it’s because employees wanted to unionize? Because that is likely what people would believe. And yes, in case you’re wondering, Apple Insider says it was also able to confirm the Reston meeting through other sources.
