A group of Apple retail workers in Australia may soon be able to refuse to sell particular products and possibly go on strike.
If all goes as planned, an increasing section of Apple’s retail workforce in Australia will be eligible to a sprinkling of new strike options by the end of the month. Some, such as refusing to sell particular items or referring clients to Apple’s business programs, may appear less severe. Still, they have the ability to jeopardize a significant portion of Apple’s day-to-day Australian retail business.
Others, such as failing to show up to work as the company enters launch season, have the potential to cause mayhem.
It comes after Apple employees unionised and obtained a protected action order from the country’s Fair Work Commission, allowing them to demonstrate without risking their jobs or being sued. Unlike in the US, unionised workers in Australia must apply to strike or picket.
The order will be put to a vote, with at least half of the 100 workers who are members of Australia’s Retail and Fast Food Workers Union voting in favour of the provisions before they are implemented.
One Apple retail employee, who spoke to VICE World News on the condition of anonymity due to fear of retaliation, said workers were left with no choice but to strike after the company began talks on a new enterprise bargaining agreement—or a collective pay deal for all staff employed by the company in Australia—without informing workers of their opportunity to negotiate with management.
“I think folks realised things weren’t going as they should have when the first negotiation meeting transpired without our knowing,” they stated. “That was the tipping point for me.”
Apple was accused in late August of rushing through a “subpar” new pay arrangement in “bad faith” for its 4,000 Australian retail employees, who had been paid under an old “zombie” pay deal that ended in 2018.
