Is Apple intimidating its employees?

Apple Accused of Firing Several Pro-Union Employees

The tech giant is one of several high-profile companies facing a rampant wave of union organizing. According to the Washington Post, Apple stores in Oklahoma City and Towson, Maryland became the first two stores to unionize with the company in 2022. Since then, several stores including the Grand Central Station store in New York City have announced that they were collecting signatures to form a union.

 To combat this ‘wave’, the company has held regular meetings with employees in their stores to discuss the pitfalls of joining unions. However, according to claims, this is apparently not the only tactic the company has employed to stop union organizing. Workers in Atlanta accused the company of intimidating employees which led to them calling off a union vote last year.

Up until now, however, no formal charges had been filed against Apple regarding such claims. On 28th March 2023, the CWA announced that it had officially filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against Apple for the unlawful firing of pro-union workers and other retaliatory measures in Kansas City, Missouri, and Houston, Texas.

Five employees from the Kansas stores had their employment terminated. According to their dismissal letters, they were let go for being slightly late, calling out of work, and making small errors in timesheets. However, as per the case filed, the terminations were intended to put a hamper on the unionizing efforts at the store. According to Gemma Wyatt (one of the five employees) via the Washington Post, “They absolutely succeeded in crushing the will to organize at our store.”

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At the Memorial City store in Houston, Apple is accused of on-on-one interrogations about an employee’s support of unions. The company is also alleged to have promised employees better working conditions if employees rejected unions while punishing those who are in support of them.