Apple store employees work to prevent Apple's union-busting tactics from being used at other stores
The employees at the Apple store in Towson, Maryland, who successfully voted to unionize last month in a first for the tech behemoth, are working to share their experiences of Apple's anti-union tactics, as while they are happy their election was a success, the negative effects of Apple's union-busting behavior continue to linger. Workers say that managers who worked on anti-union campaigns during the election attempt have continued to hold a grudge against union supporters, and that the lengths Apple went to fight the attempt caused a great deal of mistrust towards their employer. The employees posted a petition on Change.org shortly after the election, asking Apple to stop creating a hostile environment for other stores who seek to unionize. While large workplaces such as Amazon typically use consultants and outside managers to lead anti-union drives, in smaller workplaces - such as Apple and Starbucks stores - local managers are often used to deliver talking points to employees, which can lead to uncomfortable working relationships for years to come. Managers at the Towson store, for example, have been said to ask for an apology for the words used against them during the campaign. Workers now know that if a company hires Littler Mendelson, the country's largest anti-union law firm, that their employer means serious business in preventing a union election from occurring, and that an atmosphere of fear and unease would result for any store that wants to unionize.
See "Apple store employees work to prevent Apple's union-busting tactics from being used at other stores", Caitlin Harrington, Wired, July 28, 2022