Unions 2, Apple 0: Cupertino Caves After Fresh Strike Threat

Apple's anti-union posturing is looking like quite the paper tiger: The iPhone goliath has reached an agreement with unionized retail workers in Oklahoma, marking the second time it has caved to organized labor after facing the prospect of a strike. 

The Communications Workers of America (CWA) announced yesterday the 78-member union at the Penn Square Apple Store in Oklahoma City ratified a three-year contract with Apple that includes some generous terms from Cook and Co. Wages at the store will rise up to 11.5 percent in the next three years, and workers now have guaranteed PTO to vote; healthcare; and a relocation and severance option in the event of store closure. 

Employees have also hammered an agreement out of Apple to establish committees on safety, health, and working relations between Apple corporate and themselves, and a formal grievance and arbitration process. The union said it hopes both will establish a "safer and more democratic workplace" at the store. 

The agreement in OKC follows Apple reaching terms with its other retail worker union in Towson, Maryland, in late July. That union, organized by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers' Coalition of Organized Retail Employees (IAM CORE), extracted similar concessions on pay, severance, and discipline transparency. 

Apple's concessions in Towson were hard won. After failing to reach an agreement following a year of bargaining, employees authorized a strike in May. The authorization brought Apple back to the table relatively quickly, and employees never needed to walk off. 

Employees in Oklahoma City have had to take a similar tack: They voted to authorize a strike in August after talks failed - and they cited Towson as a motivator. 

"We are inspired by the example set last month by our colleagues at the Towson, Maryland, store," union member Darren Griffis said in August. "We know Apple is capable of providing us with the pay and benefits we deserve, and we call on the company to stop stalling and bargain with us in good faith." 

It took a bit more work - like organizing an 80-person "informational picket" of the store on September 3 ahead of planned negotiations - but that seemed to do the trick in bringing about negotiations. 

"Subsequent bargaining sessions in early September were productive and workers secured a tentative agreement on September 6," the CWA said. 

I'm beginning to sense a pattern ...

When Apple agreed to terms with IAM CORE in July, the union told us that Apple's posture changed nearly as soon as the strike was authorized, suggesting that the iPad maker is much happier to agree to a deal with the union than facing the prospect of retail losses and the PR hit from a shuttered store. 

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The fact the same thing has now happened twice can't be a coincidence, and it really puts Apple on the back foot: All labor organizers need to do to sell a retail union to uncertain employees is to point out that, once you get past the decoys and suppression tactics, there's not much to that anti-union iBluster. 

Votes to organize unions have failed at a number of Apple stores over the years, but this could be a turning point. 

"We can now say we have a 100 percent track record at Apple where collective bargaining agreements mean better pay and benefits for workers," CWA deputy director of organizing Tim Dubnau told The Register in a phone conversation. "This means workers can win at Apple." 

We have a 100% track record at Apple where collective bargaining agreements mean better pay and benefits

Dubnau told us that Apple isn't giving up trying to dissuade workers from forming unions: "They've put a lot of resources into training their managers on how to scare workers from wanting to organize," he told us. When Towson won its contract, the labor leader cited as an example, Apple went around the country bashing the deal to other stores to dissuade others from following suit. 

As it did with IAM CORE. However, Apple changed its tune the second the OKC employees authorized the strike and picketed, Dubnau said. "Apple works when its people work, and when we authorized a strike things started moving." 

Dubnau said the CWA intends to turn this victory - and IAM CORE's win in Towson - into a rallying cry to motivate other stores to organize. 

"We didn't have proof of concept a year ago," Dubnau said. "Now Apple employees can say, hey, we're stronger together, and my coworkers in Oklahoma City and Towson are leading the way."

Apple hasn't responded to questions. ®