Apple, Amazon, Google, and other tech giants have been fighting off unions through various tactics, as per a new report by The Washington Post. The tech industry is seeing a major momentum in unionization lately, and it is only getting stronger by the day.
The tech titans had been fighting back through various tactics which include pay raises, increased employee perks, beloved consumer brands, and core missions to help employees “feel they were making the world a better place”.
Employee unionization is gaining a foothold at Apple retail stores
When it comes to Apple employees, staff at Atlanta’s Cumberland Mall Apple Store were the first to file a vote for unionizing, and other Apple retail stores are expected to follow suit. Apple has more than 200 retail stores in the United States.
The company notified its employees that it would get HR to have one-o-one meetings with store employees to gain feedback, however, it is being said that the meetings were primarily to discourage employees from voting on unionization.
To tackle unionizing in other stores, Apple announced that it will be offering pay raises to retail employees across its 200 stores in the United States. Employees at Apple’s New York Grand Central Terminal store were disappointed and were told by HR managers in one-on-one meetings regarding the drawbacks of unionization.
The managers said that unionization would result in loss of benefits for employees, including the ability to work at Apple’s corporate headquarters, which is also known as “career experience”.
An Apple spokesperson told The Washington Post in a statement:
“Apple is fortunate to have incredible retail team members and we deeply value everything they bring to Apple. We are pleased to offer very strong compensation and benefits for full time and part time employees, including health care, tuition reimbursement, new parental leave, paid family leave, annual stock grants and many other benefits.”
The unionization trend is continuing in other companies like Google and Amazon, with the latter hiring consultations to union-bust these uprisings. Amazon has been long called out for terrible working conditions for its employees. The pandemic and high inflation in recent times are also considered some of the catalysts to employee unionization in the tech industry.
As per MarketWatch, the union push at Amazon, Apple, and other companies could be the most significant moment in American labor movement in decades.
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