Apple Together Brings Corporate Workers Into the Union Effort

The Apple retail employee at New York's Grand Central Station was distraught when he received a message from Cher. The partnership between the union and the employee dissolved. She messaged her to vent. The campaign #AppleToo was launched last summer to shed light on alleged workplace discrimination and harassment. She knew who to call when she was an outspoken worker's rights advocate.

I was like, wait a minute, I met the person at the Starbucks rally. You are in New York. Workers United began in New York. The Grand Central campaign was revived after she made an introduction. Fruit Stand Workers United went public with their organizing drive in April.

Several unionization efforts are taking place at Apple Stores across the country. The solidarity union Apple Together was found thanks to the support of current and former employees at Apple's corporate offices. The group's Discord server has grown to more than 250 employees and provides a space to swap stories, share resources, learn about organizing, and coordinate campaigns. A third of the group is made up of corporate workers, while the rest are from retail stores and AppleCare. Several union representatives are ready to talk to anyone interested in organizing their workplace.

The forum helps workers recognize their struggles when they are shared. rish was fired after helping organize Apple too. Apple said her firing was not a reprisal.

Apple's corporate culture is secretive and siloing workers from one another in order to protect upcoming launches. One Apple Together organizer, who requested anonymity out of fear of being retaliated against, said that sometimes the working conditions of products are secret. She says that between the introduction of Slack and the formation of Apple Together, this is probably the least siloed we've been in years.

The emergence of Apple Together coincides with a time when Apple's workforce has been challenging the company on issues ranging from pay equity to its return-to-office policy. Workers at Cumberland Mall in Atlanta petitioned for a union election in late April with the Communication Workers of America, while employees in Maryland filed for an election with the International Association of Machinists and Aeronautical Workers. The store at the Grand Central Station is gathering signatures.

Apple Together is run by volunteer committees.

Kevin Gallagher, who has worked at the location for several years, says that employees are hoping to get a say over their working conditions. We have people in their fifties and sixties working here who are doing highly skilled labor.

Apple offered free battery replacements to customers in 2016 without changing staffing levels. It didn't help, he says, that exposed iPhone batteries could catch fire during the repair process, which is known in the industry as a "thermal event." When the company lifted its mask mandate and several of his coworkers subsequently contracted Covid-19, this pattern would reappear in the ensuing months and years. Apple didn't comment on the story.