Andrew Orr
Apple has signed a union agreement for Apple Store staff in Glasgow, and that union has shared the terms that it has negotiated.
In November 2022, Apple Glasgow finally unionized after several months of talks, the first UK Apple Store to do so. After that, however, workers had to sign up individually for the UK's GMB union before requesting Apple to recognize their union representation.
Apple agreed to a voluntary recognition ballot, and the vote resulted in the company signing a collective bargaining agreement to recognize GMB Scotland on February 8.
On Twitter, the Apple Retail Workers Union shared the terms and conditions of the agreement. First, Apple Glasgow can collectively bargain over how pay is distributed.
Now that Apple Glasgow have a signed recognition agreement here are the terms and conditions that they have won as the first unionised store in the UK:
— Apple Retail Workers Union (@ARWUnion) February 10, 2023
The store will have three elected union representatives answerable to union members, and the store will hold elections for the positions in early March.
Next, union representatives can access information on how pay is determined and payment information to guarantee pay equity and fairness. The store's policy enforcement, hours, scheduling, and holiday considerations will also be discussed with union representatives, meeting once a month to ensure a better work/life balance for staff.
Each year, Apple Glasgow will have two all-member meetings in store, one in March for an annual general meeting and one in August before the start of pay negotiations.
During core training, Apple Glasgow will have the chance to discuss the union with all new hires, who will also receive the contact information for the union reps.
Next, a union notice board, a mailing list that includes the whole bargaining unit, and space in the store for representatives to carry out union duties and interact with members are a few of the in-store communication tools for Apple Glasgow to access.
Finally, the store will have a formal process for resolving disputes, and any disputes regarding the way the agreement operates must be settled through a formal dispute resolution procedure.
The agreement and union is a significant win for staff, as other Apple Stores haven't been so lucky. For example, the St. Louis Galleria Mall Apple retail store abandoned its attempt to unionize in November, blaming the company's opposition to such attempts.
A store in Atlanta also gave up on its petition in May 2022 and accused Apple of utilizing illegal union-busting methods. The Communications Workers of America had planned to represent employees there.
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Wesley Hilliard
AppleInsider Staff
Amber Neely
William Gallagher
12 Comments
"The agreement and union is a significant win for staff, as other Apple Stores haven't been so lucky. For example, the St. Louis Galleria Mall Apple retail store abandoned its attempt to unionize in November, blaming the company's opposition to such attempts.”
That’s a damned lie. It has been verified by journalists that not enough employees were willing to join and the effort therefore failed. The union involved falsely spun it as illegal pressure from Apple.
“guarantee pay equity and fairness” which means everyone gets the same pay whether they work hard or not. There’s no incentive to work hard, to go the extra mile for the customer at all which is the hallmark of unionism. One self-dedicated worker may do 80% of the work while five others do 20% but they get the same paycheck. I know because I actually worked in such an environment. The managers knew who worked and who was just there to collect a paycheck, so guess who they assigned the tough jobs to knowing those jobs would get done?
Unfortunately, unions cannot help themselves but push for demands / benefits that are out of touch with reality. If it was just about pay and being reasonable, I’d support unions but I have yet to find one that does not end up taking the …..
Give a tiny bit and their greed kicks in. Shame as the original intent of unions was positive and made great changes but with so many work place laws these days, they are almost redundant.
I have seen union cause jobs loses for the very thing they were supposed to help prevent.
Watch out! Lots of doom and gloom wailing can be expected from the No Bill of Rights for Workers’ Americans.
Apple invests a tremendous amount to build out and operate a physical store. It would seem proper that they would then have the lion's share of control over the operations that go on within that store, including authority to determine pay and benefits.