Unionized Apple store employees demand 10% raise and tips

The unionized Apple employees represented by the Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers are in talks with Apple to get a 10% raise, more vacation time, bereavement leave, and a new tipping system.

Employees at the unionized Apple shop in Maryland are requesting more money and vacation time in the meetings that were held on Wednesday and Thursday between Apple representatives and the Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers, which represents the unionized workers at the Maryland store.

Employee representatives demand that Apple pay extra for work schedules on holidays, such as the day following Thanksgiving. The union also requests more time off depending on years of service and longer paid vacations. In addition, it requests that bereavement periods be increased from 10 days per instance to a maximum of 45 days annually.

According to Mark Gurman of Bloomberg, the employees want more than salary raise and more paid time off. They also want to implement a new tipping system that will let customers give 3%, 5%, or a custom amount of tips for credit card transactions. All the tips will then be distributed among the employees according to their work time that month.

The union says that leaving tips gives consumers the freedom to “express gratitude for a job well done without any obligations.” On the other hand, Gurman also noted that this could impact “the company’s tightly controlled retail experience.” Even some Apple employees said that this demand might make everything harder and divert attention from more important subjects to discuss.

Apple

Apple doesn’t want unionization in its stores

Apple’s thoughts and plans aren’t a mystery, as the company is strictly against unionization in its retail stores. Despite all the efforts to prevent it from happening, it couldn’t keep every store away from it.

Apple recently held meetings to prevent other stores from unionization. Last month,  managers at Apple’s roughly 270 US retail locations held staff meetings to discuss the risks of unionization and to provide an update on negotiations between the company and the first unionized store, a facility in Towson, Maryland.

Read Also: Union Accuses Apple of Firing Workers in Retaliation for Organizing

Gurman reported that Apple wanted to keep other stores unionizing, and that’s why it assigned managers to have direct contact with employees. The business does not want labor practices similar to those at Starbucks and Amazon to spread. Retail shop managers spoke about the potential dangers of unionization at meetings and “provided a planned update on bargaining between the company and the first unionized store, a location in Towson, Maryland,” Gurman reported a  while ago.

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