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Unionized Australian Apple Store employees set to strike again

An Apple Store in Sydney Australia

Australian Apple Store employees threaten additional work stoppages and strikes as they negotiate improved wage rates.

A group of around 200 employees belonging to the Retail and Fast Food Workers Union in Australia are meeting on Monday to discuss further action against Apple. The union is one of three involved in negotiations.

According to a report from Reuters, Apple proposed a workplace agreement for wage increases that was rejected by 68% of Apple workers polled. The poll was responded by 87% of the 4,000-person Australian workforce.

Apple says its minimum pay rates are 17% above the industry minimum and that full-time workers get guaranteed weekends. However, employees state that wages are not increasing enough to account for inflation, and weekends are often split rather than held over two consecutive days.

"Workers are very happy, they've been campaigning for a fair agreement for three months. Our members have been engaged in pretty serious work bans and strikes," RAFFWU secretary Josh Cullinan told Reuters by phone. "We expect members will want to endorse a series of work stoppages."

Union employees staged another one-hour walkout on October 29. A previous walkout was held on October 18.



15 Comments

bloggerblog 17 Years · 2536 comments

And people wonder why everything is being automated 

5 Likes · 0 Dislikes
krawall 13 Years · 164 comments

How bizarre that is. "Workers are very happy. ... pretty serious work bans and strikes." Are they listening to themselves? Unions are evil.

4 Likes · 0 Dislikes
wozwoz 14 Years · 263 comments

If you are not happy working for Apple, go work somewhere else. The same applies to US employees who don't want to come into the office.

2 Likes · 0 Dislikes
Anilu_777 9 Years · 586 comments

I work retail and full-time employees do not get two-day weekends unless they’re professional (healthcare) staff. If that 17% above normal is true, the workers have nothing to complain about. 

2 Likes · 0 Dislikes
hammeroftruth 17 Years · 1363 comments

Anilu_777 said:
I work retail and full-time employees do not get two-day weekends unless they’re professional (healthcare) staff. If that 17% above normal is true, the workers have nothing to complain about. 

What’s missing is the point Apple has made for decades that there is no way employees can get a weekend day off in retail, and all of a sudden they can. 


I don’t like unions either, but it’s amazing what can happen when you threaten a company with deep pockets with one. 

Why does it have to escalate to this??

1 Like · 0 Dislikes