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NLRB Withdraws Claims That Tim Cook's Anti-Leak Email Violated Labor Laws
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The NLRB compliant was about more than one email, but here is the full text:
“Dear Team,
It was great to connect with you at the global employee meeting on Friday. There was much to celebrate, from our remarkable new product line-up to our values driven work around climate change, racial equity, and privacy. It was a good opportunity to reflect on our many accomplishments and to have a discussion about what’s been on your mind.
I'm writing today because I've heard from so many of you were incredibly frustrated to see the contents of the meeting leak to reporters. This comes after a product launch in which most of the details of our announcements were also leaked to the press.
I want you to know that I share your frustration. These opportunities to connect as a team are really important. But they only work if we can trust that the content will stay within Apple. I want to reassure you that we are doing everything in our power to identify those who leaked. As you know, we do not tolerate disclosures of confidential information, whether it's product IP or the details of a confidential meeting. We know that the leakers constitute a small number of people. We also know that people who leak confidential information do not belong here.
As we look forward, I want to thank you for all you've done to make our products a reality and all you will do to get them into customers' hands. Yesterday we released iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and watchOS 8, and Friday marks the moment when we share some of our incredible new products with the world. There's nothing better than that. We'll continue to measure our contributions in the lives we change, the connections we foster, and the work we do to leave the world a better place.
Thank you,
Tim”
It was a global town-hall company-wide employee meeting that discussed policy with regard to sensitive issues with political implications, including work-from-home and COVID vaccinations. Cook’s email implies all of these policies are confidential, when in fact some of them are not.
It isn’t hard to find the original leak he is referring to in the email. MacRumours covered it here:
Apple to Require COVID Testing for Employees Starting Next Month, Still No Vaccine Mandate
Starting next month, Apple is ramping up COVID-19 testing requirements for employees. According to The Verge's Zoe Schiffer, unvaccinated employees will be required to get frequent COVID-19 tests, while vaccinated employees will receive infrequent tests if going into an office or store.www.macrumors.com
The idea that that email sparked an investigation is insane and it totally makes sense the investigation was dropped, because it should have never been started in the first place. I’m all for workers rights to organize, against anti-poaching agreements, regular use of non-competes etc.
But that email was completely innocuous.
If the email said: “I’ve heard staff are discussing pay amongst themselves, if we catch you doing so there will be consequences” - absolutely investigate.
This one said “don’t leak confidential information to the media.” Come on.
People who write the checks. don't like it start your own business.
Current administration certainly reversed vindictive lawfare. Please provide any actual proof of Biden lawfare and change or expand your new sources...
Nah, orange man bad because he tells me he’s bad with every movement and comment he makes. Trust your gut, he’s a crook. Short and sweet comment.
As a former employee- the people team was constantly covering for bad decisions. Like hiring purely based on gender characteristics, which led to a very undertrained lead genius in our team for 2 plus years before being shunted off to a very VERY long ‘career experience’ which sadly also left a gap in our team the whole time she was doing PowerPoint presentations about women in the workplace. Another hire went from specialist to Texpert, then refused to do appointments during Ramadan, citing energy levels. This employee also mounted two false discriminatory allegations that were proven wrong with a quickness, even called another colleague a pedo “as a joke”
Kept employed. Quelle surprise.
Meanwhile our schedules were wrecked,
We ended up with a 7-10 day turnaround on the Mac repair side for almost a year because of just mismanagement.
Imagine a lead engineer not being able to perform a iMac display swap- A 2/10 difficulty repair, and leaving it damaged for other techs to fix.. but being promoted cos the other two leads were men already. (And extremely talented folk I might add, but don’t think about that, think about OPTICS, also the new hiring manager had a certain culture shall we say, she went on to hire a lot of lookalikes (same religion, same gender) that were pretty crap too. All while I had extremely talented being already on the books who could have had opportunities to move up. But those people didn’t match the sorts of people we saw constantly in hiring drives. It was all just for show, performative hiring.
Their own practices shoot themselves in the foot a lot, but if you discuss it out of work you’re a villain and should be sent to jail and fired apparently. (and if you discuss it in work.. well then you gotta have a catchup with a manager about that chat later, but you weren’t being silenced or censored no: you were being asked to respect your colleagues by not highlighting failures up the chain. And to trust in the company)
Self employed as a consultant for 3 years since and loving it. Sometimes I make what I earned at the big apple for a whole month- with only needing to attend a site once for final sign off.
I like working from home too. I’m happier, get more money, I pay more taxes now.
Don’t understand what people don’t ‘get’ about this. NDAs aren’t about anything except avoiding consequences.
One thinking they're so special and not replaceable is true for a small percentage of workers. That ship sailed years ago in tech sector. I think it's fair to say that the many workers for generations stayed in their jobs for reason you listed. Return to office, if company and employees can objectively show productivity is the same or better with working at home. Then it's stupid not to embrace it, I think Apple has done that.
The giant corporation, because they have a policy, and the employee willingly agrees to that policy as part of their hiring. If you don’t LIKE the policy, then work your way up and change it or leave, but don’t just violate the agreement you agreed to.
Frankly, if your signature on a business document doesn’t matter to you, why the hell should anyone employ you at all? I know I wouldn’t do business with such a person, since their word is meaningless.
I can think of a few other words besides "miracle", that's for sure.
I wonder if the HomePod line was shut down to make way for pumping out "gold & glass statues".
I wonder if the HomePod line was shut down to make way for pumping out "gold & glass statues".
Who decides what's a state secret? The government bureaucrats or the scientists that generate secret information?
This is a very broadly formulated question that has nothing to do with the issue.
In this specific case, the NLRB did not question the right of Apple to control confidential information. The question was whether very specific kinds of information were explicitly allowed to be discussed under the labor law.
Reading up on it, the NLRB board doesn't currently have the required quorum because two of Trump's nominees have not yet been confirmed, and it doesn't have a chair either.
Trump is crooked and is weaponizing the law. Doesn't mean that the Democrats were not.
The "Russiagate" was a perfect example of abusing state powers to get rid of a political opponent under a fabricated premise.
The party in power hired a foreign company to write a hit peace without a single shred of evidence, then used that hit piece to justify using the state security services to wiretap the opponent's campaign, and using the judicial system to investigate the opponent and anyone around him in what was clearly a fishing expedition. All in order to, essentially, stage a political coup.
And I agree that Biden didn't personally oversee most things, as he was busy shaking hands with imaginary people or otherwise being mentally unfit to function, the fact that was hidden by the Democratic Party and most of the media. He was clearly just used as a puppet, and this in itself was a criminal conspiracy against the American people.
Don't try to pretend that the rot is only limited to one side.
not sure you can make such a blanket statement. I'd argue that remote work can increase productivity in certain kinds of tasks and for certain kinds of workers, but it doesn’t universally increase overall output. It shifts what gets done and how, can reduce collaboration, delay communication, and increase selective working off tasks.
Man, Juli, this was awfully written. So... nothing about WHAT the NLRB's original ruling actually was, no context on how the NLRB has lost its independent status with the "replacement" of their director and legal counsel by the president makes this horribly slanted "reporting". The ruling already happened, 2 years ago. This UNDOES that - there is no "claim", it was found to be true.
This isn't about product leaks - this is about a QUID PRO QUO WITH THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES REMOVING FROM RECORD WHAT WAS ALREADY FOUND TO BE TRUE.
I'll quote your own article from 2 years ago
> 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.
Everyone ITT opining one way or the other about their beloved devices is just wrong because they're missing the point of what this was about. Not the iPhone. It's about the people that make it.
You have a RIGHT to share details of your compensation in this country, you have a RIGHT to discuss your working environment and conditions - especially if that company is "reneging" those agreements unilaterally.
This isn't about product leaks - this is about a QUID PRO QUO WITH THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES REMOVING FROM RECORD WHAT WAS ALREADY FOUND TO BE TRUE.
I'll quote your own article from 2 years ago
> 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.
Everyone ITT opining one way or the other about their beloved devices is just wrong because they're missing the point of what this was about. Not the iPhone. It's about the people that make it.
You have a RIGHT to share details of your compensation in this country, you have a RIGHT to discuss your working environment and conditions - especially if that company is "reneging" those agreements unilaterally.
Beautifully and clearly stated @spyguy10709
I hope more people realize what actually happened here.
It's going to become more and more conflicting for Apple fans and users who aren't also MAGA, as Tim is blurring those lines, horrifically so.
I hope more people realize what actually happened here.
It's going to become more and more conflicting for Apple fans and users who aren't also MAGA, as Tim is blurring those lines, horrifically so.
When you're summoned to Tim's office and he glares at you like this, at best you're fired, at worst you're sued.
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Thankfully, I'm good with Apple-stuff for now, and hopefully I don't need to buy anything more during Crooks watch.
I really hope someone who can be a better representative for Apple will take over after the Crook.
If Apple with continue on this road, customers might find other choises that feels better - this dosen't 🤮
Only extremists claim that one side is 100% good and right but on the other hand, bothsideism is just an excuse for citizens to stop participating in critical thought. The truth rarely lies somewhere directly in the middle. Biden's cognitive decline was underplayed by some but I still see Trump's own cognitive decline as much more detrimental to the country. Biden was told "no" all the time. Who tells Trump "no"? And I would choose Biden over Trump today because it's better to have a senile person surrounded by their trusted administration than a megalomaniac surrounded by sycophants.
As far as Russiagate, it was proven that Russia interfered with the 2016 elections and just because there was no smoking gun found connecting Trump to that interference through collusion doesn't make the investigation a witch hunt. These things should be investigated because as we know they have occurred again in 2020 and 2024.
Using a report that they themselves fabricated as an excuse to unleash the full power of the state security and judicial system to undermine a political opponent was not a “witch hunt”, it was much worse. That’s some Stasi level shenanigans.
And the question was not whether Russia interfered. They always interfered in elections, be it American or European or other countries. The question was whether there was any collusion. The Obama admin had fabricated evidence (using the term losely as there was none) to claim that there was collusion and use it as a pretense for wiretapping and investigating a political opponent, which is a classic case of gross abuse of power.
You’re essentially saying “my bad guys are better than the other bad guys because they are my bad guys”.
Added: you also seem to be downplaying the problem with Democrats and media lying about Biden's mental state. In my opinion, this is not just some unfortunate lapse of judgement. A senior person in that state is easily manipulated, and when that person is holding the top post in the most powerful country on Earth, and multiple people and institutions are building a wall of lies and silence and denial to hide that fact, this screams of a widespread conspiracy of some powerful group to control the country from behind the scenes via a puppet. This is extremely concerning and I honestly don't understand how more people are not freaked out over it. At least with Trump, we know who's behind it all. Exactly who was controlling Biden and running the country? "Trusted administration"...yeah right.
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From Cook's email:
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.
Well it was actually about both, but again a confidential meeting is a confidential meeting. They weren’t whistleblowing to government officials, they were leaking to the media. I honestly am shocked so many of you think Apple is in the wrong here.
Companies should have every right to say “we don’t want people who leak to the media here.” Especially companies that love to surprise and delight and are secretive like Apple. If I found out one of my employees was leaking confidential information to the media they’d be out the door that day, and I work for a consulting firm, not a tech company.
Under that stare, I'd be more concerned about melting than being fired or sued.
That said... Unpopular opinion but I don't care: I think he's a great CEO and a very impressive person.
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