A third UK Apple Store has unionized, following earlier examples in Glasgow and London. The Southampton Apple Store is the latest to make the move, and is now seeking recognition by Apple.
Apple’s retail staff has been increasingly seeing unionization as the most likely way to achieve better pay and conditions, with staff in Southampton arguing that some of the changes introduced by Apple harm customers as well as staff …
The unionization story so far
We first learned of retail staff plans to unionize early last year. The first store to make a formal start to the process was Apple’s flagship Grand Central Terminal store in New York. This was followed by similar moves in Atlanta and Maryland, before expanding internationally to the UK and Australia.
The first UK stores to unionize were in Glasgow, Scotland, and the White City store in London.
Third UK Apple Store unionizes: Southampton
The Southampton store has now followed suit, joining the United Tech and Allied Workers (UTAW) union, and asking Apple for formal recognition.
Staff at Apple Southampton have formally requested management voluntarily recognise our union. UTAW already represents a significant proportion of workers at the retail store, who want better working conditions, job security, pay.
Staff grievances
Reasons given by staff mirror those in other stores:
- Pay which has fallen behind inflation
- Non-transparent pay differences
- Inflexible shift arrangements
- Metric-driven management
- A punitive disciplinary culture when staff raise issues
Staff say that they have tried to use Apple’s internal processes, to no avail.
One union member commented, “Apple Retail is touted as a top employer but the reality is one of an overworked and unhappy workforce. They try to keep us sweet with various benefits but don’t pay nearly enough for the amount of hard work, skills and knowledge that are required. We’ve tried bringing issues up through employee forums and internal grievances but these are always dismissed with a fake smile. That’s why we decided to form a union.”
Genius Bar changes mean customers suffer too
One specific concern is how the Southampton store handles repairs. Staff say that increasing outsourcing not only threatens the job security of Geniuses, but also results in poorer customer service.
A union member who works as an Apple Genius said that “increasingly, in-store repairs are being outsourced to cheaper contract labour in large service centres. It means a reduction in the quality of service and adds shipping time to repairs. We’ve always had repair facilities and staff in every store, our technicians pride ourselves on a quality experience and quick service, but Apple is eroding the service to squeeze every penny it can out of its retail stores.”
Apple again accused of union-busting
Apple has faced multiple accusations of using illegal union-busting techniques, which have seen three US rulings that the company broke employment laws.
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has already upheld claims of three illegal Apple union-busting tactics, with two members of Congress stating that there appears to be a recurring pattern of the Cupertino company breaking labor laws.
The union says that this is also happening in the UK.
UTAW organiser Eran Cohen, who has been working with staff, said “Our members have been organising in Southampton for some time and have faced substantial union-busting efforts from Apple management, including victimising their elected reps and preventing staff from discussing their union while at work. It’s time for Apple to recognise its tenuous ethical position and start talking to workers on an equal footing.”
Apple faces two-week deadline to respond
The law gives Apple two weeks to decide whether or not to formally recognize the union, as it did in Glasgow.
If it declines to do so, then the union can apply for statutory recognition through a legal process. The union must show that at least 10% of the workers have already joined the union, and present evidence that the majority of those who haven’t yet done so are likely to be in favor of union recognition. In cases of doubt, a secret ballot is used to determine this.
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