Report: Apple Union Organizers Cancel Election
A labor group looking to unionize an Apple Store in Atlanta has reportedly thrown in the towel.
Bloomberg reports(Opens in a new window) that the Communications Workers of America (CWA) has canceled a union election scheduled for June 2 "because Apple's repeated violations of the National Labor Relations Act have made a free and fair election impossible." The group reportedly said that it's also concerned about rising COVID-19 infections making an in-person election unsafe.
The CWA has accused Apple of conducting a "systematic, sophisticated campaign to intimidate them and interfere with their right to form a union," including the use of "captive audience" meetings that allow managers to espouse the evils of unionizing to employees. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is currently working to(Opens in a new window) make such meetings illegal.
"We are fortunate to have incredible retail team members and we deeply value everything they bring to Apple," the company told iMore(Opens in a new window). "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 news arrived just days after The Verge reported(Opens in a new window) that Apple senior vice president of retail and people Deirdre O’Brien "is explicitly dissuading employees from joining a union in an internal video" leaked to the outlet. O'Brien is said to share "common anti-union talking points, including that a union would slow the company’s ability to respond to employee concerns," in the video.
That report was published on May 25. (An internal memo containing similar arguments leaked
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