Apple reportedly gives retail managers anti-union scripts

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

According to Vice, Apple has been teaching retail store managers how to talk employees out of unionizing. The report says the company has sent around a document full of talking points, like an outside union that doesn't know Apple and most union contracts give preference based on seniority.

At a time when there are union drives at several Apple retail stores, two of them have petitioned the National Labor Relations Board to hold union elections. Apple hired anti-union lawyers and held a captive audience meeting to spread anti-union talking points, according to one worker. It is still interesting to see exactly the types of arguments the company is using.

It may not be possible for store employees to work together as a team if a union represents them, according to a document embedded in a Vice report. It gives managers an example of a time when Apple listened to retail employees and made changes based on feedback, and then warned that a union could make things more complex and rigid.

The union contract that must be followed at all times makes it difficult for employees to seize unusual opportunities or receive merit-based benefits. If a union contract made it so employees could only do what their job description says, what would it be like?

According to Vice, managers at some Apple Stores have been giving the company's message during weekly meetings.

Some of the points are similar to the ones used by other companies. In the lead up to its own union elections, Amazon reportedly held captive audience meetings where workers were told that union negotiators may not agree with their interests. The company's CEO called unions less bureaucratic and more bureaucratic than their employees.

It's worth noting that even Apple acknowledges that the supposed downsides aren't something inherent to unions. While there are established unions involved with the union drives at Apple stores, the organizers themselves are Apple employees, despite the company's claims about placing many of our interactions into the hands of a third party.

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