Apple Agrees To Human Rights Policy Assessment After Deal With Investors – SlashGear

Apple is currently being investigated by the National Labor Relations Board for allegedly forcing workers to attend meetings discussing an anti-union agenda, surveillance, banning union material, and even interrogating them. Overall, Apple is accused of labor law violations at six stores, as per charges filed by workers. Apple retail employees have already unionized across multiple locations in its home market, and just last month, Apple Store staff at White City in London also joined the rising tide of unionization.

In May 2022, a leaked internal video (via Vice) showed Apple’s vice president of people and retail Deirdre O’Brien discouraging employees from joining unionization activities. In the video, the Apple executive claimed that unions slow down the pace at which a company responds to employee grievances. According to a leaked memo obtained by Vice, Apple even circulated anti-union literature among employees to dissuade them from organizing. In April 2022, Apple hired lawyers (via The Verge) at a law firm named Littler Mendelson, which is known for anti-union activities.

But it appears that lip service won’t cut it this time around. The Communications Workers of America has urged Apple to “commit to a true policy of neutrality toward union organizing efforts,” adding that workers deserve respect and an independent voice instead of another high-and-mighty act of corporate image management without any meaningful impact. Notably, Apple also fell out of Glassdoor’s Top 100 “best places to work (2023)” list in the United States for the first time since 2009.