Apple VP reminds retail workers they can turn down unions – TechCrunch

As a handful of Apple’s retail sites begin the process of joining unions, the trillion-dollar company’s senior vice president of retail Deirdre O’Brien issued a warning to 58,000 retail employees in a video leaked to The Verge.

O’Brien began her speech, “I want to start by saying that you have the right to join a union, and you also have the right not to join a union.”

Since April, Apple stores in New York, Maryland and Atlanta have announced their intention to form unions, and earlier today, the Apple Store at Oxmoor Center Mall in Louisville, Kentucky, announced its union campaign.

Workers in supermarkets in Towson, Maryland, and Atlanta, Georgia, succeeded in holding a union election. This means that even if Apple doesn’t voluntarily approve their union, they can still gain official recognition by winning more than 50% of the vote in an election facilitated by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The Atlanta store in the Cumberland Mall will likely be the first to vote, which is expected to begin on June 2. When applying for the election, more than 70% of the store’s employees were in their favour, which means that the prospects for their formal union look promising. But not if the ubiquitous corporate giant that lives in our pockets can stop it.

Apple, which has been accused of illegal union-busting tactics, is working with Littler Mendelson, the same law firm that works with Starbucks’ anti-union campaign. Last week, Motherboard leaked a document about anti-union talking points circulating among managers at some Apple stores. The document says that forming unions would limit workers’ opportunities for career advancement, jeopardize Apple’s culture by bringing in a third party, and withdraw employees’ ability to speak. O’Brien echoed these points in her retail employee video, which Motherboard reports is watermarked, and Apple will likely be able to identify any employee leaking it.

“I’m afraid that because the union will make its own legal rules, that will determine how we deal with problems,” O’Brien said. “It can make it more difficult for us to work quickly to address the things that you bring up.”

O’Brien also claims that the relationship between Apple and its workers will get worse under union representation, arguing that Apple has a deeper commitment to its workers than a union.

O’Brien added: “We have a relationship based on open and collaborative engagement…direct engagement that I feel could change drastically if the store is represented by a union under a collective bargaining agreement.” “And I worry about what it might mean to put another organization in the middle of our relationship.”

But those sentiments don’t hold up well — if Apple wanted to make a change in policy, then they would shape the change over the union. Then, the workers who make up the union can choose how to respond. Unions like Communications Workers of America, which represents workers at the Cumberland Mall store in Atlanta, do not make decisions independent of employees. Instead, they help support and defend workers as they bargain for better working conditions.

Atlanta store workers are striving for fairer wages. Their union said in a statement that Apple’s retail workers were denied a living wage, cost-of-living adjustment or fair stock options.

Fruit Stand Workers United (FSWU), the union at the Grand Central Terminal Store, shares that sentiment. They’re seeking a $30 an hour minimum wage, more powerful benefits including higher tuition reimbursement, more vacation time and better retirement options like matching top 401(k).

The FSWU mission statement reads: “Year after year, the cost of living in New York City has not kept pace with our wages.” Meanwhile, Apple has grown into the world’s most valuable company. Why do retail workers have to live in a precarious situation? “

Currently, wages are between $20 and $30 an hour, plus some Apple shares. Apple retail workers also have access to healthcare benefits and tuition reimbursement.

Apple did not respond to a request for comment for this story, but provided this statement to TechCrunch two weeks ago:

We are fortunate to have such incredible members of the retail team and we deeply appreciate everything they do for Apple. We are pleased to offer very strong compensation and benefits to full-time and part-time employees, including healthcare, tuition reimbursement, new parental leave, paid family leave, stock annuities and many other benefits.