avatarAnthony (Tony/Pcunix) Lawrence

Summary

An Apple fan and former employee expresses frustration with the company's union-busting efforts and insistence on in-person work, which they believe damages the brand and affects the share price.

Abstract

The author, an Apple fan and former employee, expresses their disappointment with the company's recent actions. They highlight two main issues: union-busting and the insistence on in-person work. The author worked at an Apple store for a few years and owns Apple stock, but they are upset by the company's hiring of a union-busting law firm and their treatment of retail employees. They also criticize Apple's refusal to allow remote work, which they believe has led to the loss of valuable employees. The author argues that these actions damage the brand and could affect the quality of Apple products.

Bullet points

  • The author is an Apple fan and former employee who owns Apple stock.
  • They are upset with Apple's union-busting efforts, including hiring a union-busting law firm and treating retail employees poorly.
  • The author criticizes Apple's refusal to allow remote work, which they believe has led to the loss of valuable employees.
  • They argue that these actions damage the brand and could affect the quality of Apple products.
  • The author worked at an Apple store for a few years and quit due to mandatory night work and COVID-19 concerns.
  • They mention that Apple's insistence on in-person work has led to the loss of some of the best employees.
  • The author references articles about Apple's union-busting and remote work policies.
  • They express concern about the impact of these policies on the company's share price.

APPLE

Apple Is So Wrong Right Now

And it is ticking me off

Photo by Amir Hosseini on Unsplash

I’m an Apple fanboy and sheeple. I have an iPhone, an Apple Watch, an iPad Pro, an M1 MacBook Air, an Apple TV box, multiple AirPod Pros, HomePods, and more. But this right here is an anti-Apple rant.

I’ve ranted before. I regularly update this story about Apple disappointment:

I even worked at an Apple store for a few years after closing my Unix support business of over 30 years. Overall, it was a pleasant experience, although my age made working shifting schedules difficult.

I own around 600 shares of Apple stock, most of which I bought years ago. I can’t complain about the increase in value there.

But this kind of stuff makes me angry:

So does this:

Why? Because it damages the brand, which affects the share price and could affect the quality of Apple products.

Union Busting

When I worked at Apple, one of the back-pats given to the retail stores was to call them “The face of our business.”

One of my managers wisecracked, “We are the face of the business, but they won’t give us any makeup.”

Many retail store employees think of themselves as neglected stepchildren. The pay is high by retail standards, but nothing like corporate pay. Benefits are good, but when I worked there, corporate employees got better bennies.

Retail is a tough job. Nights, weekends, holidays: you have to work. At Apple, you aren’t just passing stuff through a checkout scanner or searching the racks for a size three in blue. You need a fair amount of technical knowledge even if you are a salesperson and a lot of tech savvy if you work at the Genius Bar.

In a busy store, stress builds fast. Is it any wonder that retail employees have wanted to make a union?

Apple reacted badly. They hired a law firm known for union busting and have done everything within the law (and possibly outside) to stop organizing efforts.

Does that say you care about the people working there?

In the comments, Chris Hornberger mentioned that corporations are required by law to “push back” against unions. That’s true, but what was the impetus for those laws? Were they demanded by employees or stockholders? Does the law say they must make every effort even if it gets them called to court?

I quit Apple because of COVID, but I was getting ready to quit anyway because of mandatory night work. My wife isn’t well; she needed me at home nights. My age was working against me too: I fell asleep at the wheel twice while driving home after 10:00 PM closings. I only drove off the road both times, once on my own lawn, once on a highway on-ramp, with no damage to anything either time, but I was becoming afraid of what could happen.

Did Apple care? Nope. Work the scheduled nights or quit.

This is not a good look for a company that claims to value its employees.

Work from home

Apple has lost some of the best of the best because of their stubborn insistence on coming to work.

How do I know it has been the best of the best? Because those are the people most in demand; the people who can get a job that will let them work from home.

One Apple manager estimated he could lose 30 percent of his staff because of this.

I have relatives who work at companies who make hardware and software where the entire engineering team works from home. Apple loses employees to companies like that.

Does this intransigence help add software features? Does it help find bugs? Does it do anything good at all?

As a user and as a stockholder, I think it’s idiotic. Idiotic and harmful.

Apple
Union Busting
Work From Home
Work Life Balance
Retail
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