A group of current and former Apple employees have launched a #AppleToo website to highlight incidents of workplace harassment. The organizers claim that the drastic step is taken after all internal avenues were exhausted and that it is time to hold the Cupertino tech giant accountable for ignoring the “injustice” faced by employees.
Apple likes to keep internal discussions and concerns private but recently, employees have become very vocal against some of the company’s policies. The hybrid remote work plan faced very public pushback from employees who accused senior management of “actively” ignoring their demands and others have raised voices against pay equity. The dissident was so strong that Apple reportedly forbade internal surveys on hybrid remote work and pay equity.
Complaining of harassment and discrimination, employees organize the #AppleToo website to collect stories of ill-treated workers
The Verge reports that 15 current and former Apple employees are involved in organizing the website and have launched a Twitter account and sent news on a 200 person Discord server for Apple employees and contractors, along with the website. The effort is aimed at holding the company accountable for not paying attention to employees’ grievances with a hashtag inspired by the popular #MeToo movement to stand against sexual harassment and exploitation.
Encouraging workers to share their stories to expose “persistent patterns of racism, sexism, inequity, discrimination, intimidation, suppression, coercion, abuse, unfair punishment, and unchecked privilege.” The message on the webpage reads:
For too long, Apple has evaded public scrutiny. The truth is that for many Apple workers — a reality faced disproportionately by our Black, Indigenous, and other colleagues from minoritized racial, gender, and historically marginalized groups of people — the culture of secrecy creates an opaque, intimidating fortress. When we press for accountability and redress to the persistent injustices we witness or experience in our workplace, we are faced with a pattern of isolation, degradation, and gaslighting.
No more.We’ve exhausted all internal avenues. We’ve talked with our leadership. We’ve gone to the People team. We’ve escalated through Business Conduct. Nothing has changed.
It’s time to Think Different.
Recently, a lot of reports have discrimination and sexism have appeared: an internal survey conducted by company’s Principal Software Engineer Cher Scarlett revealed that there is up to 6% gender pay gap between male and female/non-white employees, Indian engineer has filed a discrimination lawsuit for subservient treatment because of her ancestry, and senior engineering program manager, Ashley Gjøvik accused the company of putting her on indefinite leave after raising voice against sexism.
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