While Berkshire’s Munger praises Apple management, the C-Suite may have a whole new challenge on its hands - dealing with a unionized retail workforce. Engadget highlights a Washington Post report that says Apple Store workers in the United States “are quietly trying to unionize.” How quietly? Well, I reached out to one friend at one store. They say they’ve never heard anything of the sort, though - again - that’s one person at one store.
The Post, meanwhile, says it’s heard from folks at at least six stores talking union, with two of those “prepping submissions to the National Labor Relations Board.” According to the piece:
The pro-union workers have reportedly organized in secret to avoid possible eavesdropping and retaliation from Apple, using encrypted chats and even Android phones to keep communications private.
I’m sorry - wouldn’t an Apple Store employee toting a Samsung seem sort of suspicious?
The report says the central issue is money. While the Post says the pay’s not bad compared to other retail gigs, workers say wages haven’t kept up with the rising costs of living and besides, other retail gigs aren’t part of the most valuable company on the planet. The Post piece does note the recent raises some employees have received, tough some raises cited by the report were less than a buck-an-hour - hardly enough to keep up with the recent spike in inflation. Meanwhile, Engadget says, “Apple is apparently using managers to issue anti-union warnings, such as claims workers may see reduced pay and benefits.”
I will say - I kind of wish this story was from the New York Times or the Financial Times. I do not mean the author behind the Washington Post story any disrespect, but between the current anti-tech fervor in D.C. and the paper being owned by Jeff Bezos… I don’t know. It reads as if the writer is trying to get the reader to side against Apple. Then again, I spend so much time staring at Apple, I often worry that I’ve lost objectivity.
Power to the people, if they want to try it. I’ll just be curious to see how big a story this ends up being.
