The Communications Workers of America union is alleging that Apple fired five workers in Kansas City, and disciplined another in Texas, in retaliation for organizing. The union has also accused the company of interrogating employees, promising those employees better working conditions if they don’t support the union, and threatening them with worse conditions if they do.
A press release from the CWA quotes D’lite Xiong, one of the workers who was fired:
Apple management said I was fired for a typo in my timesheet that I had documented and tried to correct. Yet, it is clear the real reason I was fired was for exercising my right to organize and win a protected voice on the job.
Another employee says she was put on notice after arriving a minute late to work three times in a month, according to The Washington Post, and that she was fired “after two more attendance-related issues.” The union has filed two charges of unfair labor practice — one for each store — with the National Labor Relations Board. You can read both at the bottom of this story.
Apple didn’t immediately respond to The Verge’s request for comment.
This isn’t the first time Apple’s received an unfair labor complaint about its behavior towards workers who are attempting to organize. The National Labor Relations Board has ruled that the company interrogated and tried to coerce employees in Atlanta, and it also filed a complaint against Apple which claimed the company discriminated against employees’ union efforts in New York. Organizers at Towson Town Center, Apple’s first unionized retail location in the US, have also accused the company of withholding details about new benefits it gave to other workers, making it difficult to bargain for the same treatment as non-unionized staff.
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