Apple steps up union-busting effort in OKC Apple Store

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OKLAHOMA CITY (Free Press) — Apple is expanding their efforts to end a union push in their Penn Square Mall store as the mid-October vote nears.

Recently, the company has used two tactics:

  • Holding “captive audience” meetings with employees
  • Sending in more management than normally needed from other stores 

The extra managers at the Penn Square store have been holding anti-union “captive audience” meetings with employees one-on-one. That would be a clear violation of NLRB regulations. 

The Penn Square Labor Alliance has responded to this tactic with a letter asking for management to stop. 

The letter says one-on-one meetings called “Walk-and-Talks” have recently morphed into captive audience meetings with anti-union rhetoric. Penn Square Labor also mentions that the meetings may also constitute polling, which is also a violation of federal law. 

These meetings have made some of the employees feel uncomfortable, and according to Penn Square Labor, are unlawfully coercive. “We respectfully ask that future Walk-and-Talks – or other meetings where union issues are raised – are put on hold until after our election votes have been counted,” the letter read.

‘Crossing the line’

Michael Forsythe, Genius admin and union organizer, spoke with Free Press about the issue. 

When asked about the meetings, he said that management is crossing the line and being very coercive. “A manager today asked a pregnant employee if they thought that they would be able to afford to pay dues”, he said.

So far, Penn Square Labor Alliance hasn’t informed the NLRB of these practices yet, but is instead hoping management would stop by coming to them in good-faith. Penn Square Labor Alliance doesn’t expect management to respond to the letter any time soon. 

When asked about how often these meetings occur, Forsythe told Free Press, “I mean, they’re happening all day. There’s four or five round-tables a day.” According to Forsythe, they hold these meetings by renting out an empty Banana Republic and filling the table with catered food. This is notable because the break room at the Apple Store only has snacks, so this is seen as another persuasive tactic by the Apple Store managers.

Extra managers

That’s not all Apple management has planned. They’re also sending in four managers, some who have previously worked at that particular store, to pressure employees from unionizing. This isn’t the first time Apple management has used this tactic. They’ve done the same thing to the Towson Apple store as well.

Forsythe says, “They have brought in managers from other stores to basically run the store. The really interesting part is three of the five or six managers they’ve brought in actually used to work at our store”. He continued, “It’s actually people that we know which, I mean, seems kind of dirty, but I think everyone sees it for what it is.”

According to Forsythe from his Twitter, managers at Apple are paid somewhere around $40 per hour, which isn’t accounting for senior management or store leads. That’s five managers working 40 hours per week for two weeks. 

It adds up to around $16,000 in payroll alone. This doesn’t include other expenses such as food that’s provided when employees are traveling, and it doesn’t include the hotel that the Apple managers are staying in. 

All out for union busting

This goes to show that Apple has no problem spending money when it comes to union-busting. 

“Apple actually knows how to spend money to appease people it wants to appease, so we can assume it’s not a cheap hotel, and conservative estimates put a per diem for food at around $100”, Forsythe’s tweet read. “Let’s say $200/night for the hotel.”

Free Press asked Forsythe whether Apple’s tactics are working. “No, I don’t think it’s working,” he said. “Almost every single time someone goes on a walk-and-talk, we know about it.”

Earlier this year, Atlanta Apple retail workers became the first in the country to file for a union election. Apple has been running a national anti-union campaign in response to these efforts with the help of the anti-union law firm Littler Mendelson.

This store would be the first Apple Store to unionize in Oklahoma. It comes on the heels of Starbucks pushing for unionization in five stores in Oklahoma so far.


Author Profile

Alex Gatley covers labor activities in the state of Oklahoma.