Apple is assigning new managers to a course that will raise their awareness of unions. The course is designed to provide these managers with an understanding of how unions work, why they are organized in the first place, and how they affect the work place. Apple decided to make this move after there was an attempt to unionize a few months ago, and also to avoid increased operating costs if employees do decide to negotiate for increased pay and benefits.
Apple is definitely trying their best to avoid unionization, and personally, I think it's for good reason. Because a union acts a tarp for a set group of employees, incompetent employees are extremely difficult to weed out. If Apple wants to hold their reputation for good customer service, unionization is not appropriate. Non-unionization will allow the company to distinguish between the employees that hold true to their reputable service and the ones who don't. Lastly , and correct me if I'm wrong, but don't some unions actually reduce pay? I mean, as of now, Apple's employees receive above average pay, so why would unionizing be a boon to them?
5 comments:
You have excellent points regarding the cons of unionization, but as the attempted "Apple Workers Retail Union" brought up, unionizing could potentially help part-time workers with pay, breaks, and training opportunities. It's interesting that despite the decline in unions, they still crop up from time to time, even in such large corporations. Regardless, management education seems like an excellent idea.
Here is an article that I found ont he topic: http://news.cnet.com/8301-27076_3-57320237-248/apple-to-train-managers-on-union-awareness-exclusive/
I think that this is more of an issue due to the fact that the managers are receiving training on dealing with unions. It seems interesting to me that if the workers abroad do receive more on average than the other factory workers, then why does apple think that there are signs of unionization. Although there was the large Honda strike last year so that my play into it and Apple's reaction might have just been publicized now (http://www.economist.com/node/16282233).
However, this is also not necessarily anti-union, but rather it may simply be a way to deal with unions as they are large, complex organizations.
In my opinion, I don't think that Apple would reduce pay if the employees were to unionize, but they most likely would not agree to the demands of the union. Since the pay is above average, they might not be able to find another job as good as this one anyway. While their reputation for great customer service is important, they will still have the reputation of their quality products and their giant customer base. I personally don't know how badly Apple is run, but from an employee's point of view, it is understandable that they might unionize. They would unionize for the same reason as any other unions: they want change. I don't know that it would necessarily be a boon to them, but it provides a chance for them to call for change within the company.
I think it's a great idea to educate managers on unions. If unions begin to take over Apple, it will be extremely difficult for the company to keep producing their products at the same rate and same quality. This could greatly hurt the company in the long run. If workers are unhappy with their jobs at Apple, then they can try to look for another job. But with the bad economic situation, I think they should just be happy that they have jobs that pay over minimum wage.
I think Apple is being smart about handling this union issue. They want to show that they're not automatically ruling out joining a union and that they're actually educating their managers about them.
Extending on Ivan's mention of unions targeting large corporations, I feel like they do this because of the large amount of employees under the companies. The union membership fees and yearly payments for the employees will rake in a lot of money for the unions, which can give them more power. As for Apple, this is one of the most successful companies in the world. If a union takes over, just think of how much power they will gain in regards to reputation.
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