The Burdens of Non-Transformational Employment

by | Feb 2, 2012 | Labor Relations Ink

You may have noticed the recent spate of negative press about allegations of abysmal working conditions in Chinese Foxconn factories that produce Apple iPad and iPhone.  Setting aside for another day a more balanced perspective on working conditions in an emerging economy we turn our attention to working conditions here, in an Apple retail store. Apple’s retail stores, which turned 10 years old last month, have been ranked in the top 50 best places to work by job tracker Glassdoor.com for three years running. Apple has even admitted that it’s easier to get a job at its corporate headquarters than one of its retail stores because the draw is so great and the turnover so low. That didn’t stop disgruntled Genius Cory Moll from forming the Apple Retail Workers Union last year and launching the fledgling union’s private website and public Facebook page.  And now the ARWU is taking its first fight to the man, reaching out to top-level Apple executives following a firing at a store in Glendale, Arizona. Fired worker Chad Ramey co-wrote the open letter to Apple brass, stating that “It was truly one of the most heart-wrenching moments of my life when I had to walk out of that store for the last time,” since helping Apple customers was something he gave his “entire heart and soul” to do.  He complains, though, that Apple Stores have changed and “what was once a truly enriching place to work has become a place that leeches and drains everything (everything?!) from their employees.” What happened to turn a top rated employer into a vampiric parasite you might ask?  Well, according to Ramey and the ARWU, due to the popularity of its products, Apple is now expecting store workers to take on more customers per hour, account for their time on the clock and cut back on chewing the fat. “Most interactions are now completely transactional, rather than transformational,” the letter reads. “We are lucky if we have time to ask the customer their name, nevertheless [sic] truly get to dig deeply into their lives and their issues, and further repair their relationships with both Apple and the Apple brand.” The ARWU Facebook page shows the union “likes” both the IWW Starbucks and Jimmy John campaigns.  (And the Department of Justice, go figure.)  And it would appear that Cory Moll would benefit from studying up on the “Wobblies” before choosing to affiliate.  “I’m not sure if I see it becoming a full global union like Industrial Workers of the World, or store-by-store like a traditional union like the UFCW or the Teamsters. That’s very far off in terms of what it’s going to look like,” Moll said. “Initially it’s just to get people talking about it, and explore ways to do away with the problems that are happening at our store.”

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