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First of all, this “anti-worker” corporation (as all Top-tech Silicon Valley) pays elite wages you cannot see anywhere else in the world to these people, plus benefits, etc.
The average Apple salary is $143K. It's a lot but it's not unheard of in a lot of other industries. Not everyone is making Tim Cook bucks.

If you’ve voluntarily signed an NDA in order to work at Apple and you break it, it’s your fault.
NDAs don't overrule the law of the land. As @atomic.flip points out in this thread: "This particular email was concerning leaks related to labor conditions. Like pay wages and vaccination policy. These things are not proprietary or intellectual property per se. And they are protected from being deemed as such by federal employment laws."
 
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It surprises me that Apple, Tim Cook and his advisers didn’t know where to draw the line with their statements

Why? This is just another organization that twists "rights" in a self-serving life mission. It's sad and pathetic how some groups of people perceive things. No rights were violated. No laws were broken with that email. They are manufacturing "evidence" to make a case.
 
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Reading the article, am I therefore understanding this correctly?, Apple, as with many many other companies, have rules and polices about leaking company information which can result in person or persons being fired and the NLRB are saying this violates labor laws because these rules/polices "tend to interfere with, restrain or coerce employees".

The NLRB have got some balls if they are saying a company does not have the right to keep it's information private.
 
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the problem is that when companies get this big and valuable they know they can essentially do anything as any fine they get is simply a drop in the ocean.
 
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you've read the article, but you haven't understood it correctly.
Why make such a post? If I've not understood it correctly then explain where my errors is and put it right. Don't just make a post saying i am in error.
 
Why make such a post? If I've not understood it correctly then explain where my errors is and put it right. Don't just make a post saying i am in error.

The part you didn't read correctly is this:

"Cook's email wasn't referencing a product leak, but was instead aimed at employees who had shared details about a meeting focused on pay equity, working from home, COVID vaccinations, and more."

Apple can have policies about leaking trade secrets. What NLRB is saying that they can't have policies about leaking labor memos. Labor is allowed to organize internally.
 
First of all, this “anti-worker” corporation (as all Top-tech Silicon Valley) pays elite wages

They pay pretty average wages by SV standards.

you cannot see anywhere else in the world

OK, maybe, but that isn't relevant. Local purchasing power matters. Workers need to pay rent.

If you’ve voluntarily signed an NDA in order to work at Apple and you break it, it’s your fault.

You can sign things that are legally void.
 
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It's time for Mr. Tim Cook has got to go. Time to retire, please. No, I don't hate Tim Cook. I love and admire him but I want change! Why is Apple even facing this?
And how did you come to the conclusion that he should go? I am still happy with the product lineup and waiting for the next 5 years of new products under cook. Under him we have seen a major architecture change , new products and Apple becoming so popular. Only Samsung well wishers would want change, so that Samsung might make some money from Phone business finally.
 
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A company that can discuss its plans transparently with its employees is a much better place to work at than one that doesn't trust its employees.

Any regulation or government interference that legitimizes leaking company internal discussions just forces companies to become increasingly opaque with employees. This will only hurt the competitiveness of USA-based companies.
The number of cases of corporate espionage by Chinese spies in US companies are at an alltime high. Its a fair request to keep company secrets a secret. You get paid to keep secrets these organisations must be funded by Samsung and other Chinese companies.
 
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Not really. Unions are a fraction of their former power so no one is being harmed except workers. Have you seen the minimum wage? It’s so low because corporations and their lobbyists control that number, not the federal government and certainly not unions or workers.
The minimum wage is literally set by the government. However minimum wage is also a terrible idea since you're inflating the value of low skilled workers and harming the ones who can't get jobs. In some states like California you can't even offer internships to low-skilled people, further limiting their growth opportunities.

We need less government intrusion in our lives.
 
Just waiting for a day when NDA about discussing your salary and bonuses with other employees becomes illegal.
 
Apple behaves like Scientology in many ways. Led by a guru, demanding infinite loyalty and any critical voices will be silenced.
 
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Okay so setting aside what the actual leaks are about. Companies aren't able to prevent employees from leaking confidential info about the company? What if they want to protect potential products they are working on to prevent other companies from learning about it and working on a similar product to compete? What if its an advanced technology that only they know of? I just feel like the article didn't give enough info. I can't imagine that companies dont have the right to prevent IP leaks?
 
Its all about rainbows and woke, as long as "green" is safe and sound...

Behind the cameras and the microphones though.... all that goes down the drain.

Hypocrisy 101
 
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Of course Apple has every right to enforce contracts that state employees cannot discuss pay, conditions, unionization with other Apple employees. If they don't like it, go work somewhere else.
 
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The minimum wage is literally set by the government. However minimum wage is also a terrible idea since you're inflating the value of low skilled workers and harming the ones who can't get jobs. In some states like California you can't even offer internships to low-skilled people, further limiting their growth opportunities.

We need less government intrusion in our lives.
You probably want people to die because they can’t afford health care in the richest country in the world as well
 
Of course Apple has every right to enforce contracts that state employees cannot discuss pay, conditions, unionization with other Apple employees. If they don't like it, go work somewhere else.

actually they don't
they can put it into an employment contract, but it's not enforceable. just like putting a clause in a contract saying they can shoot you in the head if you use the wrong toiler is not enforceable.

just because something is in a contract doesn't automatically make it legal or enforceable.
 
The minimum wage is literally set by the government. However minimum wage is also a terrible idea since you're inflating the value of low skilled workers and harming the ones who can't get jobs. In some states like California you can't even offer internships to low-skilled people, further limiting their growth opportunities.

We need less government intrusion in our lives.
Are you really arguing that paying people less than a liveable wage (which is what minimum wage is in most places in America) is already paying them too much? And you expect people to take anything you say seriously after that?
 
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Okay so setting aside what the actual leaks are about.

No, you can't "set that aside".

Companies aren't able to prevent employees from leaking confidential info about the company? What if they want to protect potential products they are working on

They can do that.

to prevent other companies from learning about it and working on a similar product to compete? What if its an advanced technology that only they know of? I just feel like the article didn't give enough info. I can't imagine that companies dont have the right to prevent IP leaks?

They do. This is specifically about labor-related leaks.
 
Maybe there is a special law about the freedom to speak about work conditions, and how people feel about it, like work from home, etc. that was discussed in such meeting. 🤷🏻‍♂️
 
Weird decision, the email seems fine as it is. Employees have an obligation of confidentiality in many companies, Apple is certainly not the exception. Probably that most high level Apple employees sign a NDA anyway. Now, that doesn't mean that Apple can do anything it wants to enforce this agreement, but I find it surprising that this email is considered a violation of US labor laws.
NDA is about a product, pipeline, research, etc. It’s not about a meeting where equal pay or COVID policies are discussed. This has gone way beyond where any free society should tolerate secrecy. This is in violation of basic rights of people, whom Apple and other companies treat like voiceless robots.
 
I’m not convinced that pay and bargaining is what Tim Cook was referring to. He is talking about deliberate IP leaks to journalists, competitors, or foreign governments. Most of the leaks are from Apple’s supply chain, from contracts that had to legally disclose some information, or accidental leaks through source code, but there have been a few notable internal leaks which were significant around the time the letter was penned. I don’t see how that letter violates laws.

It is true that there have been documented cases of lower level managers that violate employee rights and there have been unlawful terminations over discussing pay. I think you will find some of those violations in any large company partly due to incompetence of managers that improperly apply rules. Particularly in tech where they may not have been hired for their HR skills. I don’t recall noteworthy cases of improper firing in the last year, so I feel Apple has learned and improved in following the law since some of those cases.

Union busting is a more deliberate reason and I’m sure higher level execs have participated in condoning that. Companies like Apple are afraid of losing executive control over their companies almost to paranoid levels. Although Apple might take it too far sometimes, unions may also take things too far and interfere with a companies right to form contracts. I really don’t think either side is purely good.
 
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Without a NDA no obligation.
There is always an ethical obligation, NDA or not. Corporate planning confidentiality should be a shared concern by both management and employees which questions the whole basis of the the NRLB's logic in the ruling. They essentially don't have the vested interest in the company that management and employees share. Stated another way, do you want Samsung, Microsoft and other competitors accelerating their development based on leaks and beating you to the punch diluting your announcement and impacting profitability, or do you want them playing catchup. All companies seek to limit confidential information for that very reason. Look at another industry - What if employees McDonald Douglas, Lockheed, and other defense contractors leaked confidential information on the planned and newest developments in weapons technology. They would probably be considered spies, not leakers, but it illustrates the extreme. Really have to consider if the NRLB has run amuck with the extension of what originally may have been solid within a narrow perspective and now applied generally.
 
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