Retail store staff accuse Apple UK of illegal union busting efforts

Apple Glasgow became the first UK Apple Store to formally unionize, and to have that union recognized by Apple. That's proved to be far from a sign that Apple is backtracking on its controversial and illegal anti-union policies, though.

According to ComputerWeekly, members of the UK's United Tech and Allied Workers (UTAW) group, say Apple management has an orchestrated series of anti-union measures.

"A lot of it's about spreading disinformation about unions while at work," said one anonymous Apple employee, "restricting the actions of unions in the workplace, and then trying to slow every process to do with unions down to make the union look like it's not performing."

"For example," he or she continued, "lots of employees in the UK have been told that the union is lying to them and... is promising things it won't be able to deliver, or that 'unions aren't right for Apple'."

"It's a very predictable script that comes from management," said the employee, "and we see the same sort of 'catchphrases' repeated again and again in different locations, so we're very aware it's a script and share it with each other."

According to UTAW organizer Eran Cohen, Apple's anti-union measures go beyond this "passive-aggressive" approach. "[They] have a few different mechanisms for chilling discussions at the store," said Cohen, "so that people are scared to just talk about unions or to ask questions."

The anonymous worker said that if workers are caught discussing unions, management refers them to Apple's "solicitation and distribution" policy, which is meant to prevent employees campaigning for political causes.

Implied threats

"They'll threaten people, they'll pull them into the office and make it sound like there's going to be a serious situation if they keep doing this," continued the employee. "[There's] an implied threat of disciplinary action, there's an implied threat that you might lose your job if you continue with it."

"It's almost certainly against the law," says the employee, who adds that Apple management is "very, very careful" about exactly how they discuss the solicitation policy. He or she says this is so that they can't be accused of directly stopping anyone unionizing.

Cohen points out that the right to join a union is protected under UK law. "[So the] policy is not enforceable because as soon as they tried to discipline someone for it," said Cohen, "they will be in breach of the law."

"But what they can do," he continued, "is imply heavily to people that they will get in trouble, to chill union talks that way."

Apple's response

An Apple spokesperson gave ComputerWeekly a version of its standard response to anti-union accusations.

"We have long been committed to providing an excellent experience for our customers and teams," said the spokesperson. "Apple is one of the highest paying retailers in the UK, and we've regularly made enhancements to our industry-leading benefits as a part of the overall support we provide to our valued team members."

Apple's head of retail, Deirdre O'Brien, has previously said that the company has an "open and collaborative and direct engagement" with its staff, which would be "fundamentally changed" if stores unionized.

"And I worry about what it would mean to put another organization in the middle of our relationship," she said to staff. "An organization that doesn't have a deep understanding of Apple or our business, and most importantly, one that I do not believe shares our commitment to you."

Repeatedly, however, staff have complained that there has not been an "open and collaborative" relationship that includes any "direct engagement" between Apple and its staff.

According to one long-term US employee of the company, telling Apple of an issue is "like writing a letter to Santa" for all the good it does.