Apple Store in Maryland Makes History by Voting to Unionize

[seek3r]

Cool. So now all the current lazy employees who piss & moan about not being able to make a living on minimum wage (something minimum wage was never intended for)

Minimum wage was literally created to be a living wage. This is what FDR said on the topic, he was pretty clear:

In my Inaugural, I laid down the simple proposition that nobody is going to starve in this country. It seems to me to be equally plain that no business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country. By "business" I mean the whole of commerce as well as the whole of industry; by workers I mean all workers, the white collar class as well as the men in overalls; and by living wages, I mean more than a bare subsistence level-I mean the wages of decent living.

Comments like yours are why unionization efforts like this new one are important, not just to pursue new rights but to protect the old ones.

 

[JM]

Not weird at all. If you talk to mid state regular Joe or Jill you will find it they most likely support big business and ego centric CEO figures over labor even though they are part of that labor. They are the first ones to line up again affordable medical plans and other benefits because "they don't want to pay for lazy people who do nothing". It's then when I usually tell them that US government has spent over $50,000 on a single project that involves planting a certain flower on top of the certain mountain in a certain part of eastern Europe and that US federal government spends billions of dollars on projects like these all over the world no matter who is in charge Democrats or Republicans. They have no clue what I'm talking about, they just stare at me. So they are OK to let their tax money be used for planting flowers thousands of miles away from their home but they are not OK with their tax money to be used for improving quality of life within US. I guess most of them fantasize having a big business one day, I dunno.

Basically, yes: the people who support the freedom to fail or succeed wildly in business have the general idea that they, too, could become a millionaire and never really worry about money if they applied themselves wisely and worked their tails off.

It’s an optimist’s and realist’s point of view to believe that in America you can become more wealthy than you could elsewhere.

It’s cynical to believe that it’s “impossible” to have a better life for yourself in the US. It’s hard as heck, yes! But not impossible.

If you take away the freedom to fail (I
i.e. provide more top-heavy government control, or organizational control like Unions/Labor), then the result will maybe be something closer to a situation where there are more lower-middle class people who get by in life just fine and happy, but never able to have the wildly lavish lifestyles (comparatively) that Americans can enjoy.

*all this is a difference in opinion about how to reach a common goal that everyone probably has: “How can I make my life, and the life of others, better?”

(Also, I won’t even begin to comment on the $50,000 flower, lol. It has something to do with asking the question, “What political party was in power when that bill was voted on? 🤣)

 

[Vjosullivan]

Unionization makes little sense for retail employees. These are high turnover entry-level positions.

It is precisely because, in this way, they are not regarded as "real" employees that they need a union.

 

[Vjosullivan]

More Apple stores may follow this. I wouldn’t be surprised but this seems like a bad move. Since Apple can easily close down this store and move its location. Thus, not having to deal with a union.

Why would Apple close a store rather than talk to its employees?

 

[JM]

Minimum wage was literally created to be a living wage. This is what FDR said on the topic, he was pretty clear:

In my Inaugural, I laid down the simple proposition that nobody is going to starve in this country. It seems to me to be equally plain that no business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country. By "business" I mean the whole of commerce as well as the whole of industry; by workers I mean all workers, the white collar class as well as the men in overalls; and by living wages, I mean more than a bare subsistence level-I mean the wages of decent living.

Comments like yours are why unionization efforts like this new one are important, not just to pursue new rights but to protect the old ones.

Minimum wage didn’t really keep up with the part that it should be a living wage. I suspect if it had, then the cost of goods and services would have inflated even more than they did since then.

You can’t just throw more money in society and expect everything to just be affordable and cheap.

FDR’s good-sounding idea and good intentions, didn’t in the end really succeed in reality.

(Or, one could argue, it was actually a calculated move to trap more people in poverty and give more control to the government. Not all politicians are here to help us, true?)

 

[madrigal77]

Close it immediately.

 

[troublador]

I don't care about what happens in the EU

So why have you written comments in the past whingeing about the EU? Keep your nose out if you're all about America.

 

[Vjosullivan]

Joined the Machinists Union? They’re Customer Service Representatives.

The Machinists are in China and India.

The machinists are abroad because American companies focus on cheap over everything. Now it is those foreign manufacturers gaining all the manufacturing experience. Over time this increasing their capabilities and increases their quality (after all does anyone complain about the quality of Chinese made Apple computers) and increases the buying power of their local employees.
Meanwhile, in the US, manufacturing facilities close, employees are lost, manufacturing experience and knowledge fades away. Fewer people can actually afford the stuff that now has to be imported. Way to go!

 

[SoldOnApple]

Collective bargaining is a good thing for workers.

 

[Vjosullivan]

Well, we now know which Apple Store has the worst service in the world.

We can expect to see sexual harassment and assault rise in that store too, once the abusers make friends with the right people in the union (or the union leaders themselves will do it, as we see in the UAW)

You're living in a fantasy world. Unions are formed by people who care about their jobs and their livelihood and want to see that protected. The fact that they think they need protection from their employer says a lot; primarily about their local management but also about the company.

 

[yabeweb]

Hopefully in US unions actually do the poor guys interest.

Otherwise like here, they only take money from both sides.

 

[CthuluLemon]

WE as customers will just pay an even higher APPLE TAX for this Unionization of APPLE stores.

lol, this comment is absurd. The Apple tax is a pejorative term specifically directed at Apple’s tendency to market evolutionary, commonplace advancements as unique, revolutionary and therefore worthy of massive prices. Apple doesn’t need unions to create the so-called Apple tax, it’s a major part of their business model already. Even in the most shining terms, the Apple Tax is at best an attempt to make Apple’s design, craftsmanship, and manufacturing look equivalent to Steinway & Sons’ despite obvious faults and shortcomings. The Apple tax has nothing to do with overhead costs and everything to do with executive greed.

The Apple tax is nothing more than Apple insisting we all bend the knee. It’s blowing smoke up Tim Cook and the rest of the c-suites’ anal sphincters.

 

[ruka.snow]

In 2022 this shouldn’t be news. I don’t know a single person in a retail job that isn’t in a union. A union is just the done thing and it protects workers from stupid.

 

[rom3o]

Well, there goes customer service.

"Hi, can you help me?"
"Sorry, I'm on break."

Does that imply that employees who aren’t unionised don’t get to take breaks?

And customers even expect them not to?

 

[LeeW]

It does seem like an odd choice of union, not that I would know the detail. But Surely the point of unions is they don't have any teeth unless they have strength in numbers. One store unionizing isn't going to offer many benefits. More stores joining different unions causes even more issues.

 

[BellSystem]

When did selling iPhones become a career that required a union? Even the AppleCare techs are a joke. When I worked at the store we did real repair work, now they just depot it out or replace the device. Unions are a relic from the past when jobs were actually dangerous and people were being exploited. Thy still have utility in certain industries, but How does that apply to the Apple Store?

Many years ago I worked as a projectionist, local 182 was the union. I was not in it. They were the laziest and most unskilled operators I met (for the most part). One of the newer non-union theatres had a bunch of morons working for it that got that theatre unionized (the union was desperate and the idiot employees thought it would given power) which eventually resulted in a regional 2 year lockout a few months later. In the end they all lost their careers and were reduced to an embarrassing state. I imagine something similar is eventually going to happen here.

 

[Expos of 1969]

Well, there goes customer service.

"Hi, can you help me?"
"Sorry, I'm on break."

Nope. A break is intended for the worker to mentally and physically remove himself from the work environment. No worker with any sense will remain on the shop floor during his break and a manager with any sense will instruct employees to leave the shop floor during breaks.

 

[twistedpixel8]

If they shut down the store I believe they'd be somewhat responsible for relocating the employee's.
I maybe mistaken though

In a country with human rights, yes. Not America.

 

[cosmichobo]

Hmm.

So, the company that seeks out every tax loophole to save themselves billions, also seeks to keep their store staff poor, and then complains when they unionise. Surprised, anyone?

 

[DelayedGratificationGene]

Labor unions built America.

In the beginning unions worked then they inevitably became corrupt. Apple can automate the whole store with a couple of security personnel. Done.

 

[DelayedGratificationGene]

Apple should automate the whole store. It’s time for apple to revisit their retail business model and make some needed strategic upgrades and changes.

 

[BuffaloTF]

Minimum wage didn’t really keep up with the part that it should be a living wage. I suspect if it had, then the cost of goods and services would have inflated even more than they did since then.

You can’t just throw more money in society and expect everything to just be affordable and cheap.

FDR’s good-sounding idea and good intentions, didn’t in the end really succeed in reality.

(Or, one could argue, it was actually a calculated move to trap more people in poverty and give more control to the government. Not all politicians are here to help us, true?)

You can't throw money into society and have everything be cheap? Odd. History says otherwise.

They didn't succeed? You sure about that? It only ended the Great Depression. It only ushered in the most prosperous decades in our history. The past 40 years have shown going the opposite direction has the opposite impact, while what we built in that time is allowed to sit and decay.

 

[TVreporter]

If they shut down the store I believe they'd be somewhat responsible for relocating the employee's.
I maybe mistaken though

Transfers are rarer these days. Most union situations it would likely feature a severance package based on the number of years worked.

 

[I7guy]

lol, this comment is absurd. The Apple tax is a pejorative term specifically directed at Apple’s tendency to market evolutionary, commonplace advancements as unique, revolutionary and therefore worthy of massive prices. […]

Edited more for reality.

lol, this comment is absurd. The Apple tax is a pejorative term specifically directed at Apple’s tendency to market revolutionary, unique advancements and therefore worthy of massive prices.

 

[BruiserBear]

Well, we now know which Apple Store has the worst service in the world.

We can expect to see sexual harassment and assault rise in that store too, once the abusers make friends with the right people in the union (or the union leaders themselves will do it, as we see in the UAW)

Yeah, because employees could never be protected from allegations in a company without a union. Are you seriously not aware of how often this happens? It’s literally at the heart of the story around Activision and Bobby Kotick being charged with protecting higher up’s from abuse allegations for years.