Apple Illegally Interrogated NYC Retail Staff, US Labor Board Rules
The Apple Inc. store at the World Trade Center retail complex in New York City.
(Bloomberg) — Apple Inc. illegally interrogated staff at its World Trade Center store in New York City, the US labor board ruled Monday, marking the latest rebuke of the iPhone maker’s labor practices.
A trio of Democratic-appointed labor board members ruled against the company, affirming the findings last year of an administrative law judge. In that decision, the judge concluded that the company violated federal law in 2022 by confiscating union flyers, prohibiting workers from placing them on a table in the break room and “coercively interrogating” employees.
Monday’s ruling is the first decision against Apple by the NLRB’s members, agency spokesperson Kayla Blado said. The Cupertino, California-based company, which didn’t have an immediate comment, has previously denied wrongdoing.
Apple has faced a wave of organizing efforts over the past couple years, with employees at stores in Maryland and Oklahoma voting to unionize in 2022. Some other unionization petitions were withdrawn prior to voting, and other efforts — like the World Trade Center one — never got far along enough to seek a vote. The Maryland and Oklahoma stores haven’t yet reached collective bargaining agreements with the company.
The Communications Workers of America — the union behind the World Trade Center campaign and the Oklahoma win — said Monday that Apple continues to interfere with “workers’ ability to decide for themselves whether or not to join a union.”
“Time after time, when workers want to join a union, Apple has had an opportunity to live up to its stated values and failed,” CWA spokesperson Beth Allen said in a statement. “This is why workers need an independent voice — to help Apple live up to its credo and make sure that every member of the team is respected and valued.”
Other cases are still pending, including one in which an NLRB regional director accused Apple of illegally excluding unionized workers from certain benefits. Rulings by NLRB members can be appealed to federal court. The agency lacks authority to impose punitive damages or hold executives personally liable for violations.
On Monday, the NLRB members ordered Apple to “cease and desist” from coercively interrogating workers and confiscating union flyers from the break room. They also told the company to post a notice telling employees that it will obey the law and informing workers of their rights.
Employees at an Apple Store in Short Hills, New Jersey, are slated to vote Friday and Saturday on whether to become the third unionized site among the company’s roughly 270 US stores.
(Updates with union comment in fifth paragraph.)
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