Apple guts internal communication tool, crippling union organization
Wesley HilliardApple Park
Apple is trying to control communications between retail workers on an internal tool, and complaints are now strictly moderated, allowing only happy, company-positive thoughts.
Apple has reportedly been waging a quiet war with its retail staff in various locations, especially those that seek to unionize like at Apple Towson. The latest blow to employees occurred after an internal communication tool called Loop cut out the "negative" or "critical" posts with new moderation rules.
AppleInsider has received multiple anonymous comments from Apple retail employees about the Loop update. Following the complaints, we reached out to other contacts we have inside the company's retail arm, and all of them confirmed the move by Apple.
One anonymous tipster said to us that they saw Loop as a refreshing insight into how other Apple retail employees felt, and reinforced to them that they weren't alone in their frustrations. On Loop, employees would vent at Apple's "forgotten and uncared for" Today At Apple program, the new push for employees to handle multiple customers at once, and other issues.
Now, according to one account, employees must agree to a new and more restrictive set of ground rules before accessing Loop. Every post is screened by moderators before it is shown on the tool, and it seems anything more critical than neutral is being filtered out.
It is being described to us as a violation of free speech "in an effort to keep us in line." Employees describe the change as similar to being placed back on an island away from other stores.
Apple is a very secretive company, and while some external employee groups on Slack and Discord exist, none were as connected and available as Loop. It seemed to the employees using Loop that the program operators didn't care about the negative posts — at least until this update.
Without an internal tool to share grievances, these employees will naturally turn outside of Apple to less secure areas. It seems if Apple wants its employees to keep work matters internal, it has eliminated the one tool that kept it that way.
The measures seem unilateral in combating internal negativity towards Apple. Most of the employees we've spoken to see it as a blatant tactical move to suppress union organization. The move by Apple has removed a reliable way for employees to organize, unionize, and compare experiences in a workplace environment.
AppleInsider has reached out to Apple for comment.
Charles Martin
Andrew Orr
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Malcolm Owen
32 Comments
The First Amendment guarantees citizens the protection of free speech from intrusion by the federal government, it does not apply to private actors, and employers are private actors. Employees working in the private sector often don't understand that the constitutional First Amendment right to free speech applies to government employees but not employees working for businesses. There are all sorts of things dealing with private sector communications but in most cases the company you're working for can decide what can and can't be said at work. It's the same with personal use of computer equipment. Some companies allow it while others don't. To go to the extreme, several people where I worked were running their side businesses while at work using work computers. That's generally a definite no-no!
Mark of a great company: censorship and insecurity.
Loop was never intended as a tool for airing grievances, but an idea hub to make ideas into a reality. I understand that employees get frustrated if Apple appears to not be listening to their grievances, but loop wasn’t made for that and it’s possible that Apple got tired of hearing just complaints and not ideas.