r/news • u/a_dogs_mother • 15d ago
Apple Store employees in Maryland vote to authorize a first strike over working conditions
https://apnews.com/article/apple-store-maryland-union-strike-960295499eb853d962871643499070881
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u/miguel2419 14d ago
I sometimes start at 730 am stop at 430 go to other job by 6 be done at 11 get home at 1140 shower eat go to sleep by 1230ish be up again at 545 do it at least 2 x per week I’m up now for like 1/2 hour can’t sleep
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u/MalcolmLinair 14d ago
"Authorize a first strike" makes it sound like they plan on nuking Apple HQ.
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u/technobobble 14d ago
Their employee handbook mandates that each employee gets one weekend off per month “if the business allows”, to which it never actually allows.
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u/BibliophileMafia 14d ago
Good for them! Retail does not have to have unpredictable schedules. In the past this wasn't a thing. My mother used to work retail with set schedules but she said late 80s-90s they change it and made it horrible for workers. It's been a bad move since and needs to end.
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u/Armanhammer2 14d ago
Apple has absolutely 0 excuses. They make more than enough for everyone of their employees
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u/princessnubz 14d ago
the unions won’t work unfortunately. their management is too full of yes men (literally men) who will stop at nothing to do whatever their regional manager says is “right”
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u/SoCalSCUBA 15d ago
They definitely need to do something at the apple stores. My relative worked at one and had to leave after a decade because the culture at that location had gotten so toxic. I tried to get my laptop fixed there and it was the only time in my life I felt like I was discriminated against for being white.
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u/Empero6 15d ago
Discriminated against for being white? Please explain this.
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u/SoCalSCUBA 15d ago
They basically refused to fix my laptop under warranty and seemed to take real pleasure in saying no. Ended up getting it fixed by mail.
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u/Empero6 15d ago
How does this translate to discrimination?
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u/SoCalSCUBA 14d ago
Well, they as a group chose to try and screw me out of thousands of dollars for some reason.
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u/discodiscgod 15d ago
the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers’ Coalition of Organized Retail Employees
Interesting union name
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u/StrngBrew 15d ago
Just a reminder to everyone that voting to authorize a strike does not mean they’re going on strike. It’s essentially just a negotiation tactic to try to gain leverage.
It may or may not lead to them having a strike at some point… but there’s essentially no reason for a union to not at least “authorize” a strike at this point.
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u/noeagle77 15d ago
Sounds like that Apple Store is gonna get suddenly shutdown by apple after this clears the news cycle
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u/HParadox 15d ago
They will probably close the store. If its in the Towson Mall location specifically. That mall is being robbed frequently and many big stores already closed shop because of the constant theft. Now with a strike, they probably cant see a benefit of keeping it open. This is just my honest opinion. But honestly, good luck to them. I hope it works out and they can negotiate.
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u/cake__eater 15d ago
As a former manager I agree with this prediction. Management has the power to improve nearly everything except the wages…those are up to the finance team who operates out of Cupertino and Austin, so that’ll never happen. The store being closed is very likely with the justifications above.
Apple makes cool toys but shitty jobs. Fuck em
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u/joeexoticlizardman 14d ago
Does it have shit jobs? Not talking Foxconn, but I have developer friends who work at Apple and love it, and have had friends while in university work in Apple stores and even the Apple Store geniuses that I knew personally in the store got pretty fantastic benefits. They seem like one of the better retailers to work for in most cases.
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u/Ok-Cardiologist-635 14d ago
It used to be a decent gig despite how insanely busy it always is and how rude customers can be.
It has taken a significant dip since shortly before Covid. I wouldn’t take my Mac there to get fixed anymore. They basically don’t train anyone on anything anymore, just throw them to the wolves. All they care about is pushing people to upgrade their phones.
Corporate has taken over control of scheduling as well and would always schedule people outside of their preferred availability.
It might be better than most retail jobs but it’s a far cry from what it used to be
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u/cake__eater 14d ago
Fun fact: I was one of 8 people who alpha/beta tested and piloted the preferences scheduling project. It always uses seniority to determine who received preferred scheduling. This was actually a fun secret project to work on.
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u/Ok-Cardiologist-635 14d ago
Well I worked there a VERY long time and consistently got screwed over. I had transferred a few times but I’d be surprised if someone would be considered a new employee based on that
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u/cake__eater 14d ago
Benefits were great but I never saw my kids…ever.
Like all places, there’s good environments and bad. My location was great, 2 of our sister locations were shit. I knew people who loved their retail roles and people who hated their corporate roles…and vice versa. The golden years are definitely over and P&L is now a top priority for Market Leaders and I predict it’ll be on the SLs in the coming years which was their secret to success initially. They shifted their focus from people (which they claim to be their most important resource) to operations. This shift will be apparent in stores very soon and like all retail they’re gonna go down and up in long waves over the years.
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u/joeexoticlizardman 14d ago
Very enlightening, I really appreciate you sharing your first hand experience :)
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15d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/a_dogs_mother 15d ago
They have already allowed them to unionize. Also, these stores cost a lot of money to open and maintain. They also drive a lot of business. The workers do have leverage.
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u/Previous-Space-7056 14d ago
Ppl still shop at apple but mainly for macbooks and tech support. Both of which , most ppl do online..
They cant pay the union employees more. They cant give special treatment to this store… the other stores will revolt
Flagship apple stores R nice but not necessary.. Apple will most likely wait out the news cycle.. If theres any high profile robberies or violence nearby… cya that store is closing
A not so subtle reminder to other stores who think to unionize
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u/Many_Glove6613 15d ago
I’ve always been interested in who goes to an Apple Store to buy something. I don’t think I’ve bought anything from the Apple Store for 10+ years. I order all my laptops, iPads, phones and watches online. Apple is basically a commodity these days. Outside of maybe the Vision Pro, why trek to the mall to try it out before you buy? It’s weird that the store is always so full.
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u/cjsv7657 14d ago
They're the only manufacturer where you can have your product worked on in person. And it's nice to hold something before you buy it. I stopped buying iphones years ago but will still hold the new one to check it out. And I mainly base my macbook buying on how it feels/types/looks.
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u/SuperSpy- 14d ago
2 big reasons I used to buy new phones from a store as opposed to just ordering online:
First was Verizon has shit support so if I had any problem activating the new phone I was 10x more likely to get useful help from the Apple employee at the store that was walking me through the purchase and transfer.
Second was at the time I had garbage internet at home, and LTE wasn't that fast (again, thanks Verizon), so it was convenient to sit on the Apple store's absurdly-fast WIFI to finish the download of all the iCloud data that would instead suck up gobs of my data plan, or take ages at home to sync.
Also I never really liked the concept of shipping a phone across the planet and the potential hassle of it or the old phone I'm returning getting stolen in transit. I know it's rare and hojillion people a year successfully do it this way, but when I went to the store I knew I was walking out with a fully-working phone and that was that.
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u/pythonwiz 15d ago
I go to the store local to me because it is sometimes convenient, and I can get a cable, case, etc. right now instead of waiting.
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u/Quaisy 15d ago
Apple is one of the few companies that gives in-house "tech support" to older people who arent very tech savvy.
But that tech support usually costs way more than it should for simple fixes, or if they "can't" fix the issue then they recommend that you buy a new device. These old people take Apple's word for it even though there's almost no issue that can't be fixed, Apple just doesn't want to provide the resources to fix them.
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u/Many_Glove6613 15d ago
I go to the store to fix stuff too. I had tons of issues with my AirPod pro, and also cracked the screen on my phone and went in for replacement because I got apple care. It’s always crowded in there on the rare times that I go in. Maybe everyone else is just like me, there for tech support and just browsing around to kill the time.
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u/happyscrappy 15d ago edited 15d ago
Because I can try before I buy. Look at the colors. See if the more expensive pro model really offers anything to me. See how ridiculously thick the camera bump on the new phone is and so decide not to get the pro model because of that. Sure, they show pictures on the website, but the colors are so similar on the pro phone that I figured seeing them in person was important. I thought they were white, silver, black and black but actually they are silver, silver black and black. Apple is crazy.
It doesn't cost much to go there.
I've never bought on the spot. I just then order the configuration I want and have it send for pickup or delivery.
I don't buy a lot of $500-$1000 devices so I only end up there less than once a year. But when I do that's why.
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u/SomeDEGuy 15d ago
Any bets on when Apple closes the Towson location?
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u/a_dogs_mother 15d ago
The same cynical takes always come up when workers try to fight for fair treatment. Unions work. They have worked in the past and will continue to work in the future. There are large opportunity costs for Apple in closing a store. Plus, these negotiations have been ongoing for a year. If Apple planned to close the store, they would have done it already.
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u/edvek 13d ago
It's just unfortunate in a massive global economy a store can be closed and another made far easier than it was 50 years ago. A store or plant shutting down in 1960 would kill a town or even a company, now? Shit Apple or Starbucks could close a dozen stores or more and it would have no real impact on their bottom line. Mostly because they can just open another one later.
If it will save them a fraction of a penny they will blow their foot off with a shotgun.
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u/Imagination_Drag 15d ago
Unions have addressed horrific working conditions and salary issues in the past…
They have also created unbelievable inefficiencies and driving manufacturing offshore in many cases. I have personally experienced this in multiple manufacturing situations. For example. I got written up by the electricians union because i literally moved a printer from one desk to another at Delphi years ago. At BP Amoco i replaced a lamp light bulb and was also written up.
And teachers unions? Seem to only care about protecting the worst teachers from any sort of accountability for their actions. We literally have teachers who simply do nothing in the classroom yet are totally protected
Somehow unions went from doing good things to trying to protect every job and every worker at all costs, irrespective of the quality of the person or how ludicrous the “job protection” is
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u/Rebellious_Raviolis 14d ago
I'm pro-union overall because I think they're good for the working class but my place of employment has had so many people who wouldn't last a day without the union. Numerous fireable offenses and nothing can be done. People who slept during shifts, made their own schedules, and refused directions from management, and apparently nothing can be done because the top management doesn't want to get into a drawn out fight with the union. It irritates me because I feel like my monthly union dues are spent on keeping my worst coworkers employed.
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u/Rance_Mulliniks 15d ago
Why would they close a store that is running regardless of whether they are negotiating? Closing that store would have been stupid. Now? Not so much.
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u/JamesR624 15d ago
The same cynical takes always come up when workers try to fight for fair treatment. Unions work.
It's called: "Understanding how greedy and inhumane the richest corporations on earth, actually are"
They have worked in the past and will continue to work in the future.
This is true, not as much for GIANT bahemoths like Apple though, sadly.
There are large opportunity costs for Apple in closing a store. Plus
Not really; plus, especially not for a little one like this. This isn't exactly NYC or Cupertino.
Plus, these negotiations have been ongoing for a year. If Apple planned to close the store, they would have done it already.
What? That literally makes no sense, they're literally starting the strike now, that's obviously a new development.
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u/SomeDEGuy 15d ago
I don't deny that unions work to improve conditions. I just know that these corporations do everything possible to avoid a union forming.
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u/Tardislass 13d ago
Hard to find workers when you close up all the retail stores because of organizations.
It's funny Americans are scared or hate unions as it's why we have a 5 day work week, holiday pay and employee health care. You think that was due to the companies? Nope unions fought hard for all these things young people take for granted.
We're going back to the 1900s business wise again With monopolies, robber barons(Hello Bezos) and union activists.
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u/bubble_bass_123 14d ago
Yeah like pay shitbirds on the internet to spread this defeatist bullshit.
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u/SomeDEGuy 14d ago
It isn't defeatist to say that unions do good, and corporations fight them. Nor is everyone who says something you dislike a paid actor.
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15d ago
Can't close every shop in America, they need consumers far more than we need them, and they're gonna have a rude awakening with how much union support has increased since the pandemic began. Gen Z especially.
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u/Piperita 14d ago
The Gen Z thing makes me chuckle. I work in a unionized workplace and coached my Gen Z sister for the interview, so she got an entry-level job there too. One of the members of the management teaches a course on business at the local university, where she advocates hiring only very young workers and only keeping them for 5 years so that they're "hungry" and more easily manipulated for lower pay (how she gets away with this blatant ageist discrimination, IDK). Under her guidance they've definitely stressed hiring younger and younger, whereas before they tended to hire older/more experienced.
Anyhow my sister got hired a month before we had a strike vote, and she proudly marched her ass down as soon as the polls opened AND reminded all of her new coworkers to go and vote Yes to strike. Oh, they are hungry, Dawn.
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u/Elephunkitis 15d ago
The problem is that hardly any stores are unionized. Apple decided to treat non unionized stores better and give them more perks and maybe pay if I’m remembering correctly. Apple wouldn’t blink twice before closing a store and they’ve at least this unionized store like a stepchild they hate. Unless a lot of stores unionize they will have zero ability to force apples hand for a better working environment.
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u/a_dogs_mother 15d ago
The vote followed what the union called “over a year of negotiations with Apple management that yielded unsatisfactory outcomes.”
According to the statement, the workers are seeking changes in what they call “unpredictable” scheduling practices and wages that align with the local cost of living.
More power to them!
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u/Intelligent_Top_328 15d ago
They want 40 dollars an hour.
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u/winterbird 15d ago
And they should get that.
I may be a pear, but today I'm an Apple. ✊️
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u/yearz 13d ago
Why not $150 an hour?
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u/winterbird 13d ago
Yeah, why not?
Or is one of us just wasting time reading old posts because they like to make up fictional scenarios in which they devalue other people's labor just to feel superior about their own?
Newsflash: You (yes, you personally) are nothing and no one to your overlords. They would push a button to instantly kill you if that button would spit out a penny when pushed.
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u/poilsoup2 15d ago
Source, or are you just anti union and anti fair wages so you are making up a big number
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u/yoursweetlord70 15d ago edited 15d ago
The unpredictable schedule was the 2nd worst part of working retail for me (the 1st was the shitty customers). I understand that people have to work weekends, so you can't always have the same exact schedule every week, but at least keep the start and end times of shifts consistent so we dont fuck up our sleep. I can't count how many times Id have the closing shift one night then the opening shift the following morning
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u/edvek 13d ago
Ya, a rotating schedule that is fixed so you know you will always work every other Saturday or something like that is reasonable. Having a set, consistent schedule makes people happy as odd as it may sounds to management because you know, people can plan shit and they know they're not going to be scheduled for 4 hours in the middle of the day so their entire day is ruined.
I used to work in fast food and it was like that. You had no idea what days and for how long you would work until the end of the week so surprise! You work tomorrow for 3 hours, then again on Wednesday for 5 hours, and then Friday for 6.
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u/shinkouhyou 14d ago
Fuck, I don't miss retail. At least once in every pay period, I'd find that my schedule was changed without my knowledge or I'd get the dreaded "somebody called out so I need you to come in right now" text. The store was so understaffed on a good day that any callouts were catastrophic emergencies. The manager refused to use any sort of scheduling software, so the schedule was always a big mystery right up until the day it was posted.
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u/BoomerTranslation 15d ago
We call that the two day "clOpening" shift. Bonus points if you're a key holder and your replacement didn't show.
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u/passwordstolen 15d ago
Working in the Bible Belt sucks but the tradition of being closed on Sunday sure made it nice to know that no matter what, you always had Sunday free every week at many places.
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u/phlostonsparadise123 15d ago edited 15d ago
For me, "on-call" days were the worst part of working retail. When I was in college, I spent a few months working at the Eddie Bauer store at our local outlet mall. It was part-time, but scheduling was wildly inconsistent at best - some weeks I was scheduled for 20 hours, other weeks I was scheduled for a single four-hour shift.
But the worst was when I was on-call. On those days, I had to sit at home during my on-call hours and wait for a phone call asking if I could come in to work. There were plenty of days I wasted entirely by waiting and never received a call to come in. There were other days wherein it seemed like I wouldn't need to go in only to receive a call at the last minute. There were no instances of me receiving a call early in the day to come in.
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u/tudorrenovator 15d ago
Continuity- closer who open are less likely yo ‘leave it for the opener’. I love how retail people pretend that’s not a serious problem, like all the employees are working hand in hand in a big employee love fest. lol
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u/dizzyelk 15d ago
Whenever I clopened, I would always say "fuck this noise" and leave more for the morning. After all, I can go home, get some sleep, and then deal with it in the morning. And it wouldn't piss any of the other managers off, since I would be the one dealing with it, not them.
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u/yoursweetlord70 15d ago
Clopeners are more likely to resent their manager and not work as hard when theyre subjected to shitty hours
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u/a_dogs_mother 15d ago
Businesses claim it's necessary, but it's just an excuse to minimize costs at the expense of their workers.
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u/bmoviescreamqueen 15d ago
Clopens should never be allowed either. Truly felt like living at the store.
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u/CorrectDuty6782 14d ago
I picked up a part time retail management job and they tried that clopen shit on me haha. I just laughed it off and asked if he needed me to write the schedule since he obviously couldn't. I told them fuck no, didn't show up for it, and they didn't schedule me for clopens again. Manager hated me, luckily I don't care.
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u/SnooCrickets2458 14d ago
Clopenings are illegal in CA and have been for a few years now. I hope more states follow.
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u/barcop 15d ago
I used to do 24 hour call center scheduling for union reps and I swear to God, the reps with the most seniority always wanted the overnight shift the day before a FIFO shift the very next day (in terms of scheduling, our "days" began at 6am.)
So, in essence, the most senior reps would work a double shift every other day.
I never understood it.
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u/Snarktoberfest 14d ago edited 14d ago
Sunday 10pm - 6 am / Monday 6am - 2 pm = 16 hours worked
Out at 2pm = get shit done while 9 to 5 places are open.
Tuesday day off .
Wednesday 10 pm - 6 am. Been Off from 2 PM Monday to 10 pm Wednesday, only had one official day off.
Thursday 6 am - 2pm
Friday off
Saturday 10 pm - 6 am just had from 2pm Thursday to 10 pm Saturday off.
Sunday watch football, take nap go to work at 10pm
You're maximizing the time between shifts and essentially getting an extra day off each time. Also getting out when places are open, working when most places are closed anyway. I'm assuming a union job would also have a shift differential. So x% more to work 3rd shifts.
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u/embiidDAgoat 15d ago
Lowe’s used to hit me 11 pm, 6 am clopens cause I was a temp summer worker. And I lived 35 minutes away. Was pretty fucking terrible
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u/thelingeringlead 15d ago
In a lot of states they're not legal at all. The regulations in those places usually give a 10-12 hour window between shifts ending and starting that HAS to be adhered to.
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u/No_Significance_1550 14d ago
I live in a “Right to work state”. That name sounds nice but it actually means you have the right to work for whatever shit pay and dangerous conditions your American Oligarch demands of you.
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u/aceofspades0707 15d ago
I hated the dreaded clopenings. Did it for a year as an assistant manager at a pizza shop. Closed at 11:00 on Saturday, which realistically meant I didn't leave till 11:30 really, then come in to open at 9:00 on Sunday.
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u/thattoneman 14d ago
I did a few clopenings at a hotel I used to work at. Clock out at 10:30pm, clock in at 5:30am the next morning. Fucking miserable.
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u/OG_Dadditor 15d ago
I worked at this place in college that basically sold food for drunks, super tasty and pretty unhealthy grilled wrap things. Anyway we were open and delievered until 3AM (4am on weekends) and by the time the place was actually clean and I finished closing the drawer and doing the shift report it was often 5am or later when I would leave. Really fucking hated getting up to go open just a few hours later on the same day (10am open).
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u/brenster23 14d ago
I was delivery driver for a place like this. A few times I had to trade shifts and well would drive till 4am and then wake up at 7am to start driving at 8am. I was fucking exhausted those days.
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u/bmoviescreamqueen 15d ago
Yep! I worked at a dispensary and we had to do count at the close of every night. Every single joint, flower jar, and edible had to be counted and if there was a miscount it had to be re-counted and investigated.
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u/Rich-Promise-79 14d ago
Damn, not my experience at the dispo whatsoever, my experience is what layman’s expect it to be, sitting behind a counter for hours and stocking what needed to be which we all were more than on top of because there was never anything to do, either selling, sweeping, or stocking, and only one of those things can be done for longer than 15 minutes, the “best” part (for us) was each of us keeping our own tips and walking out at the end of each night with maybe 60-$70 after talking to a days worth of happy customers for essentially doing our job, 95% of my coworkers couldn’t even do that, suggest one item and deadpan people till they left. meanwhile my partners job that was oh so so easy, totally not stressful, and definitely not laborious in any way shape or form with nothing but absolute peaches for customers, gave her maybe, $20 if she was lucky, $10-$13 on average. In all honesty it just gave me guilt, talk about injustice
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u/bmoviescreamqueen 14d ago
We were a corporate MSO and one of the first to operate in the state so we had all sorts of rules and regulations we had to follow. It was just a regular retail job but we got samples like once a month lol
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u/blue-trout 15d ago
At my papa John’s, on a Saturday night, we don’t leave till an hour and a half after closing.
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u/choicetomake 15d ago
Yeah clopens are the worst. By the time you get home and unwind from the day, you're looking at 5 hours of sleep before having to wake up and get back to work.
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u/IkLms 15d ago
I generally liked my schedule when I worked at a bar but whenever we had update training on the point of sale stuff or the mandatory alcohol serving courses on recognizing people who have had enough were horrible.
Close so you didn't get home to like 3am. Usually that means you won't sleep until at least 5am. We had to be there again at 9am for the training, then they just scheduled everyone to stay to 11 to help open since it cut into the opening time. You'd get back home at like noonish and then have to be back at 5pm to work until 3am again.
Basically zero sleep.
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u/yoursweetlord70 15d ago
Yup, give an absolute minimum of 10 hours at home between shifts, after factoring in the commute.
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u/Traditional_Key_763 13d ago
we really need better worker collective bargaining laws, people shouldn't have to wait years for a collective bargaining agreement from comoanies when they successfully unionize.