Apple Inc. and unions
The majority of industrial labor disputes (including union recognition) involving Apple occur indirectly through its suppliers and contractors, notably Foxconn plants in China, and, to a lesser extent, in Brazil and India.
[3] Since the 1980s, Apple, like other Silicon Valley companies, shifted assembly operations and other manufacturing services from the United States to countries with lower labor, overhead costs and flexible scaling.
The Brazilian Metalworkers Union (Confederação Nacional dos Trabalhadores Metalúrgicos; CNTM) affiliated to IndustriALL had previous experience organizing Foxconn workers at the first non-Apple plant that was established in 2007.
[23][24] Foxconn made global headlines in 2010, when over a dozen workers committed suicide in iPhone factories, due to strenuous working conditions.
Apple responded by bringing in the Fair Labor Association (FLA), a US based NGO as an external auditor from 2012 to 2016.
[24] The Economic Policy Institute criticized the FLA report for giving Apple and Foxconn 'undue' credit, despite ongoing issues including forced overtime and the continued use of underage labor.
[27] Ahead of the iPhone 5 debut in 2012, employees in French Apple retail stores voted to go on strike after collective bargaining negotiations stalled.
In an interview with Manager Magazin, a ver.di union representative cited excessive overtime, high noise level and insufficient health measures as motivating factors for workers to form a works council,[31] as well as the lack of any collective agreements.
[35] Apple expanded production in 2019 in Chennai through contract manufacturers Pegatron and Foxconn in the special economic zone located in Sriperumbudur.
Strike demands included higher monthly bonus schemes of US$200, limiting employee surveillance and increasing staffing.
[41] On December 18, 2014, retail workers of Apple Japan announced a union affiliated with Tozen using the slogan "Work Different".
Additional unionization efforts are underway in New York (Grand Central and World Trade Center), Kentucky and Ohio.
In January 1990, following an announcement to cut employee profit sharing, workers on an internal network bulletin board system who had previously organized around affirmative action, recycling, and smoking on campus, "literally swamped" the system in protest of the changes, resulting in management walking back the changes.
[52][53] In June 1991, the group, which had grown to 500 members, organized a rally outside of one of the Cupertino, California offices in protest of forthcoming mass layoff as part of the company's cost-cutting plan.
Others have criticized that while the company used to pay competitively, it has not been reflective of the record profits reported throughout the COVID-19 pandemic,[58] as described in a Medium post by an Ohio worker, Matt Herbst.
[59] Organizers alleged that since they started union activity, managers had begun surveilling workers and giving anti-union speeches.
[59] Rebecca Kolins Givan, an associate professor at Rutgers University warned that union busting activity by Apple against organizers could "tarnish" their brand.
The group set out a list of demands on Twitter, including hazard pay, living wages, benefits for part-time workers, and several specific requests due to the COVID-19 pandemic, such as N95 masks and sanitization stations, and more strict rules around customer interactions.
[69] In 2022, Communications Workers of America (CWA) launched an effort to help Apple retail stores unionize.
[84] In May 2022, CWA filed an unfair labor practice report against Apple, claiming the company held captive audience meetings to counter unionization efforts.
[85] The same month, CWA filed another complaint, alleging Apple interrogated workers about labor activity, prohibited the posting of pro-union flyers and held mandatory anti-union presentations at the World Trade Center store in Manhattan, New York.
Scarlett, who had previously worked for Starbucks, was helping unionize the coffee chain and connected the organizers to her Workers United contact, reviving the effort.
[89] In September 2022, workers at Apple's Penn Square store in Oklahoma, filed a petition with the NLRB to hold a union election.
[91] In Columbus, Ohio in the Easton Town Center store, Apple circulated fliers promoting "a dedicated working group that can be used as a formal means for employees and leaders to provide feedback on both local and retail organization-wide initiatives, policies and practices."
In response, CWA filed a complaint with the NLRB on December 16, 2022, alleging that Apple interfered with unionization efforts by setting up its own pseudo-union controlled by the employer.
[92] On May 3, 2022, Apple employees working at the Genius Bar at Towson Mall in Baltimore, Maryland sent a letter to CEO Tim Cook notifying the company of their intention to file for union recognition with the NLRB called the Coalition of Organized Retail Employees, or AppleCore.
