Unionized Apple store employees demand 10% raise and tips
The unionized Apple employees represented by the Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers are in talks with Apple to get a 10% raise, more vacation time, bereavement leave, and a new tipping system.
Employees at the unionized Apple shop in Maryland are requesting more money and vacation time in the meetings that were held on Wednesday and Thursday between Apple representatives and the Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers, which represents the unionized workers at the Maryland store.
Employee representatives demand that Apple pay extra for work schedules on holidays, such as the day following Thanksgiving. The union also requests more time off depending on years of service and longer paid vacations. In addition, it requests that bereavement periods be increased from 10 days per instance to a maximum of 45 days annually.
According to Mark Gurman of Bloomberg, the employees want more than salary raise and more paid time off. They also want to implement a new tipping system that will let customers give 3%, 5%, or a custom amount of tips for credit card transactions. All the tips will then be distributed among the employees according to their work time that month.
The union says that leaving tips gives consumers the freedom to "express gratitude for a job well done without any obligations." On the other hand, Gurman also noted that this could impact “the company’s tightly controlled retail experience.” Even some Apple employees said that this demand might make everything harder and divert attention from more important subjects to discuss.
Apple doesn't want unionization in its stores
Apple's thoughts and plans aren't a mystery, as the company is strictly against unionization in its retail stores. Despite all the efforts to prevent it from happening, it couldn't keep every store away from it.
Apple recently held meetings to prevent other stores from unionization. Last month, managers at Apple's roughly 270 US retail locations held staff meetings to discuss the risks of unionization and to provide an update on negotiations between the company and the first unionized store, a facility in Towson, Maryland.
Gurman reported that Apple wanted to keep other stores unionizing, and that's why it assigned managers to have direct contact with employees. The business does not want labor practices similar to those at Starbucks and Amazon to spread. Retail shop managers spoke about the potential dangers of unionization at meetings and "provided a planned update on bargaining between the company and the first unionized store, a location in Towson, Maryland," Gurman reported a while ago.
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@Howard Pearce
-The biggest thing wrong with unionization is that they are usually backed by the state
Not in right to work states which are now the majority of states (26 out of 50), which is one of the reasons why union membership has been declining for decades. Not sure what “state backing” other than right to work issues you are referring to.
-with special privileges that you as an induvial (sic) employee are not allowed to do !!
Generally individual employees have less power than a group of employees, which is why they join a union in the first place. I disagree with your premise that unions somehow have more “special privileges” than Big Tech. (see section 230 of the CDA for example) It appears now Big Tech has more power than the government, much less unions.
Whoever is using my name, can you please stop?
Or Martin – are you able to block my name from further use? I use my full name to stand by what I write, but if someone else is going to use my name, then I want it cleared away. I think my “Outlook” address validates when I post or not
The biggest thing wrong with unionization is that they are usually backed by the state with special privileges that you as an induvial employee are not allowed to do !!
Such as striking for a period of time with pretty good assurances you will not be fired.
“Such as striking for a period of time with pretty good assurances you will not be fired.”
There are some air traffic controllers from the 80’s that would disagree with you.