Last Updated on December 20, 2022, 11:28 AM | Published: September 4, 2022
OKLAHOMA CITY (Free Press) — Employees with the only Apple store in the OKC metro have filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to hold a vote for union representation.
About 70% of workers at the always-busy Penn Square Store on the near north side of Oklahoma City signed the petition for the vote, according to a story first reported by Bloomberg News.
A recent win for union representation at an Apple Store in Maryland with the International Association of Machinists and a strong campaign at a store in Atlanta have encouraged the workers to push forward in OKC in spite of company opposition.
“Apple retail workers are often the face of Apple for many customers and play a big part in giving them the amazing experience they deserve,” said Leigha Briscoe, business pro at the Apple store in OKC. “Workers should also have the right to negotiate and envision their own experience at Apple so we can thrive.”
The employees are wanting to organize under the Communications Workers of America (CWA.) If they win their vote, it will be the first Apple store crew to join that particular union.
But, CWA, has coordinated several successful union votes in other companies such as quality assurance testers at the game producer Activision Blizzard, Inc., and retail workers at Verizon Communications, Inc.
This also comes as three OKC Starbucks store crews have won their union votes so far, with other stores petitioning the NLRB.
Normally, the NLRB will consider a vote if 30% of the employees of a company petition for a vote.
But, seasoned unions that are advising the newcomers to union association, such as Apple and Starbucks workers, have advised the workers to push for 70% to make sure there is a strong possibility of a union vote win.
If the vote conducted by the NLRB gets a majority for union representation, then the company must bargain with the employees for a binding contract. But, as workers at Starbucks locations that have won their vote are finding, when a large corporation decides to spend millions to hire the top law firms to oppose the unionization of workers, the process can be a grueling one.
Apple has been trying to fend off unionization efforts by increasing pay. And, from sounds company leaders are making, it doesn’t look like they will go along with the move willingly.
Apple retail chief Deirdre O’Brien issued a video message to workers earlier this year saying she was worried about “what it would mean to put another organization in the middle of our relationship,” according to the Bloomberg report.
Recently, workers with companies like Amazon, Inc., Trader Joe’s, and others that have large numbers of workers that meet the company’s customers directly have had success in their union votes.
‘Not just about wages’
Michael Forsythe is an employee of the Oklahoma City Apple store and one of the employees pushing for a union contract.
He emphasized in a Twitter thread Friday that the sheer size of the company and the ways in which employees get can get crushed by policies is one of the driving forces behind workers’ desire to unionize.
Here is the Twitter thread, edited in format only for readability:
“I haven’t really shared this story but I think it’s an important story for me to talk about to really underscore that many times unionizing is NOT just about hourly wages and time off, educational assistance, or similar benefit related reasons.
For those of you who do not know, I have a daughter who will be two in December. Apple has a new parent leave policy that involves full paid time off, and gradual return to work after for a number of weeks.
As I was working my gradual return to work schedule (20 hrs a week) I asked a manager about arranging those days I worked in a specific way to maximize the amount of time I got to spend with my daughter. I did this for two reasons 1) My wife did not get maternity leave and 2) what new parent wouldn’t? I love my child more than life itself.
The advice I was given was that what I was requesting was ok and it wouldn’t impact my pay. Fast forward a few weeks and I’m missing half my paycheck. I have a two-month-old daughter at home and half my check is just gone.
I talked to the manager who gave me the advice who apologized profusely and promised to do what they could to get me taken care of and made whole. This manager helped me call HR, called HR on their own, AND spoke to our store leader about remedies. I was told there was NOTHING that apple could do.
This almost $3T company couldn’t pay me because ‘there wasn’t a fund to pull that money from’. I had a MANAGER behind me and I got absolutely ZERO recourse because there was no specific account to pull that from. Essentially, I was alone in that office.
I barely mentioned it to anyone because sometimes bad things happen and the only option is to force yourself to work it out and that’s what I had to do. I never talked ill of anyone involved and most of you will probably learn this for the first time, because I DO love this company.
But as much as I love this company, I can not be ok with how this turned out. I never have been. But if there’s a way to make sure that I or any one of my peers do not have to deal with something that egregiously inhuman from an otherwise great company, then I’m going to.
This is why we unionize. It’s not purely about benefits or pay. Everyone’s reason is different and everyone’s reason is valid, just as everyone’s reason for opposing is valid. #LaborOmniaVincit”
Free Press will continue to report labor organizing at Apple and other companies in Oklahoma and the OKC metro.
Founder, publisher, and editor of Oklahoma City Free Press. Brett continues to contribute reports and photography to this site as he runs the business.
