Last Updated on April 28, 2023, 9:03 PM | Published: April 28, 2023
OKLAHOMA CITY — There’s good news for the hard workers at the OKC Apple Store in Penn Square Mall. The store has won an Ovation Award from Apple [AAPL].
The Apple workers won most improved Genius Bar in AMR West for Q1 of 2023. They had a 14-point improvement.
The Ovation Award is an award given to a few Apple stores based on a number of factors.
Free Press spoke to Michael Forsythe, Genius Admin and union organizer, about the Ovation Award. He said, “They divide stores into three categories based on volume (high, mid, low). One store from each volume will get a highest NPS score, and one store for each will get a ‘most improved’ which is the store with the largest flat rate improvement over the previous quarter.”
He continued, “Also, each region has its own awardees (AMR West, AMR East, APAC-Asia Pacific, EMEIA-Europe, Middle East India Asia) with each round of awards going to product zone and Genius Bar performance.”
Asked about how the unionization affected their performance, Forsythe said, “I think unionizing made a lot of us really invested in the work we do with a new purpose. The burnout we’ve all been dealing with suddenly had new goals and a desire to be better because we knew better could be coming.”
‘Super stoked’ about winning
The workers’ response to winning the award has been overwhelmingly positive.
“We’ve all been super stoked honestly,” said Forsythe. “It was a really neat thing to see, especially knowing our sister store in Towson has won two back to back.”
“That makes three Ovation awards in 2 quarters between 2 unionized [AAPL] stores”, he concluded.
According to public statements made by Penn Square Labor, “It has come to our attention that we have ALSO won an Ovation award for most improved GB in Q1 of 2023. While the company states our results took too long to get us on the list, we have a shiny Tiffany’s glass statue nonetheless.”
The statement continued on to the point of the importance of unionization, “So, allow us to reiterate the point that our sibling store in Towson eloquently drove home with their repeat recognition—when workers have a stake in labor, we are more motivated to drive the excellence that these awards require.”
Currently, the workers of Penn Square Labor are waiting for negotiations to begin. The date for bargaining to begin is May 16th and 17th.
There are currently two unionized [AAPL] stores. The first to unionize was Towson, Maryland, and the second was the Oklahoma City store in Penn Square mall. Despite the two stores’ high marks in performance, Apple has been reluctant to recognize the unions.
The Oklahoma City [AAPL] store unionizing is part of a larger wave of labor organizing happening all across the country. Not only is [AAPL] unionizing, but big companies like Starbucks, and Amazon are organizing as well.
Alex Gatley covers labor activities in the state of Oklahoma.
