After a union drive at an Apple Store in the World Trade Center failed, a National Labor Relations Board judge ordered the tech corporation to leave its employees alone after Apple illegally interrogated some of the unionizing workers.
In a decision made yesterday, the judge wrote that Apple must cease and desist coercively interrogating employees over their unionization efforts, Bloomberg reports. The company also curtailed the union’s efforts to distribute flyers, preventing workers from engaging in protected organizing, according to the judge. The decision comes after a hearing in front of the judge in January, during which NLRB attorney Ruth Weinreb claimed that Apple’s tactics caused the unionization effort at the World Trade Center store to end.
Apple did not immediately return Gizmodo’s request for comment. Jason Stanevich, an attorney for Apple, told the judge at a January hearing, “Apple fosters an open and inclusive work environment whereby employees are not just permitted, but encouraged, to share their feelings and thoughts on a range of issues, from social justice topics to pay equity to anything else that they feel is an important cause to promote in the workplace.”
In May 2022, the Communications Workers of America, the union which was representing the Apple employees at the World Trade Center Store, filed a complaint with the NLRB alleging the interrogation, as well as alleging that Apple forced employees to attend anti-union workshops. The New York City store’s union effort dovetails with a similar push at an Apple store in Atlanta, the employees of which filed for unionization in April 2022. Higher pay is at the top of the list of demands for unionizing Apple employees, as they argue that their compensation hasn’t kept up with the rate of inflation.
