Apple Employees at Unionized Maryland Store Denied Latest Benefits Provided to Non-Union Workers

[gixxerfool]

As someone who came from an entire career with no unions to my first job now with one, this is correct. The union is who represents you. You no longer have the power to individually bargain for better wages or what be it. Being in the union has proved to me, they really don't do much unless they want to. My experience doesnt account for being picked over someone with more seniority than me, I could be better, more qualified and more deserving of a raise or promotion, but if someone else with lesser credentials has been there longer, they get it. I accept that and move on with my day.

 

[8CoreWhore]

All pay and benefits are now negotiable through the union. There is no reason to think you get the same compensation package. Now they have to negotiate and also pay the union fees every month. Good luck.

 

[ian87w]

Classic corporate tactics to divide (and conquer) their own employees. Retailers have been doing this for ages. So much for that wokeness Apple, you're just a typical American corporation.

 

[CapitalIdea]

It's embarrassing how many people lick the boots of a 3 trillion dollar corporation while we have 550,000 people sleeping on our streets each night.

No wonder **** never changes.

What are you doing to change it?

 

[NervousFish2]

That's ridiculous - you can't join a union and then negotiate your own extra benefits. No union would allow that - and then they would turn around and sue the company for trying to deal under the table.

You misunderstood me. What I actually said is there was no legal obstacle preventing Apple giving these workers additional benefits over those negotiated in the contract. The contract is the legal floor of the benefits, not the ceiling.

 

[Robert.Walter]

Very disappointed in Apple management.

I hope the whole company ends up unionized.

 

[Bawstun]

I am on the side of all union workers in America. Change only happens from the bottom up. Don't expect any corporation to ever feel any sympathy for their employees. Demanding is the only thing that can achieve dignity and a fair wage.

It’s this unfortunately! If enough people sparked an outrage about this online, like a true viral never-ending outrage…Apple would probably reverse course. Otherwise they won’t. How sad that the only motivating factors are profits and shame.

 

[CapitalIdea]

You misunderstood me. What I actually said is there was no legal obstacle preventing Apple giving these workers additional benefits over those negotiated in the contract. The contract is the legal floor of the benefits, not the ceiling.

Do you randomly give a cashier more money than the price of something you are purchasing? If you have employees do you just add extra money into their checks above their earned salary?

 

[Robert.Walter]

Tim Cook doesn’t deserve to have either a bust of MLK or RFK on his desk as both were strong supporters of both workers rights and unions.

 

[Robert.Walter]

Do you randomly give a cashier more money than the price of something you are purchasing? If you have employees do you just add extra money into their checks above their earned salary?

Yes, decent companies do this all the time.

 

[Robert.Walter]

What are you doing to change it?

Based on your other comments I suspect more than you are.

 

[madrigal77]

Unions are nothing more than a ponzi scheme and should be outlawed in their current form. Ever wonder where all those union dues go? Hmmmmm...

 

[Orange Bat]

The reason Apple will need to negotiate new benefits with the union is a matter of civil law. If the union doesn’t like how the new benefits are administered, Apple could find themselves in court fighting the union. Unions are generally a good thing, IMO, but I found that they also mean another layer of bureaucracy that can get in the way.

 

[no_idea]

This is great. Hope you enjoy being in a union Maryland 🤣

 

[GizmoDVD]

Why was this offered to only non-union employees?

Why would you think it would be offered to union employees?

They formed a union. They now pay money out of their paycheck for said union. Go talk to your union rep and try and get said benefits (they won't).

 

[jdoyle]

Disgraceful from Apple. Large corporate entities rely on a "Divide and Conquer" approach to employees. What power does an individual have against Apple? They may hand out small benefits when they feel like it, but the only way to get have any sort of clout against them is to band together and unionise. The union movement has been demonised In every western world country for decades now and what do we have? Record profits by companies like Apple and employees becoming a new class of working poor. Shame on Apple.

 

[GizmoDVD]

This tantrum by Apple is actually illegal in this country.

armchair lawyer is wrong

 

[bsolar]

No, the employees signed up for a union which by law must do the negotiating. Apple even warned them this would happen. Apple does not want unions so there will be two classes of employees with different employment contracts/benefits/pay etc.

The union could negotiate a 4 year contract and Apple the next day could double all non union store pay and union employees would not be able to get that contractually. They have very little leverage. That is why most unions are in the supply chain (shipping/manufacturing) not at the end of it (sales/marketing/business jobs)

The negotiation needs to be done in "good faith" though and sanctions can be imposed if it's determined not to be so. Offering benefits to non-union workers and not offering similar benefits to the union for negotiation could be seen as "bad faith" bargaining, which is actually against the law.

Similarly, negotiating a contract with the union and the next day offering non-union workers much better terms can be dangerous for Apple as it can be interpreted as "bad faith" bargaining.

IMHO Apple is going to offer similar benefits to the union unless they have a pretty good reason to defend the decision not to, e.g. because the union already successfully bargained other kinds of benefits which Apple does not normally offer to its workers.

Most unions are in the supply chain because those positions tend to have much less bargaining power as individual workers. You don't need a union if you already have the bargaining power as individual: you need it if you lack individual bargaining power and need collective bargaining power to compensate.

Ideally, every worker should not need a union given their individual bargaining power being sufficient, but in reality it's not so.

 

[gugy]

It’s this unfortunately! If enough people sparked an outrage about this online, like a true viral never-ending outrage…Apple would probably reverse course. Otherwise they won’t. How sad that the only motivating factors are profits and shame.

Forget online outrage. Honestly, things only will get better in this country when people unite against the elites and corporations. Both parties are corrupted by their donors. The plan is to divide us so they can profit.

 

[GizmoDVD]

Exactly right

Apple's conduct here is very intentional and in the spirit of a union busting/discouragement practice

So Apple can no longer provide anything to non-union members unless they offer the sam to union members?

What's the point of the union at that point aside from them taking money from your paycheck to do...nothing...?

 

[maxoakland]

This is, frankly, disgusting. They’re punishing employees for doing what’s right and unionizing. This makes me dislike Apple

 

[PlayUltimate]

My wife, who works 10+ hours as a Sp Ed teacher is paid the same as a PE teacher that works 7 hours a day. That is because the teacher’s union determines everyone’s salary based on the rules. This is not a complaint. But there are advantages for being in a union and advantages for not. When I was managing a team of 50+, there were wide discrepancies in salary even though all we’re doing the same work. (I tried, where I could to normalize it, but was often stymied by upper management.)

 

[seek3r]

So what’s the problem. They have their union bosses to try to get them that. They didn’t want to play by Apples rules so they got what they deserved. Now they’ll have to bend over for the union and hope they get something close to what the other employees get.

You do get the only reason these benefits were added is the unionization effort, right? This isnt the benevolence of Apple

 

[brofkand]

Those days never existed - people just erroneously think they did.

I realize I am asking for a little much when expecting a website like MacRumors to be impartial, but impartial news did (and still does) exist. It's just rare because it doesn't really make money.

 

[turbineseaplane]

You do get the only reason these benefits were added is the unionization effort, right? This isnt the benevolence of Apple

Exactly -- that's the key point

The only point of these benefits is to differentiate from the union side and give that the appearance of being a worse path to be on.

It's flat out union discouragement and busting tactics