Dozens of Apple workers WALKOUT on Christmas Eve and urge customer boycott as they demand better working conditions
DOZENS of Apple employees staged a Christmas Eve walkout, urging customers to boycott the company as they demanded better work conditions. The protest, organized by the advocacy group Apple Together, came during the last-minute Christmas shopping rush. In a statement issued on Twitter, the group said: “We are Apple. We deserve a respectful workplace. We […]
DOZENS of Apple employees staged a Christmas Eve walkout, urging customers to boycott the company as they demanded better work conditions.
The protest, organized by the advocacy group Apple Together, came during the last-minute Christmas shopping rush.
In a statement issued on Twitter, the group said: “We are Apple. We deserve a respectful workplace. We deserve paid sick time. We deserve protection on the frontlines. We deserve proper mental healthcare.
“Demand that. Apple upholds its image with your wallet. Don’t shop in stores. Don’t shop online. #AppleWalkout.”
The group, consisting of current and former Apple employees, is an extension of the #AppleToo movement, which was formed to collect stories from employees at all levels at Apple who claim they have experienced harassment or discrimination.
Organizers of the walkout said that at least 50 workers across three states called out of work on Friday.
“Apple workers are fed up with being unheard,” Janneke Parrish, a former corporate Apple employee, told the Huffington Post, adding that the protest aims to “make sure people are aware of how retail workers are being treated.”
According to Parrish, Apple’s retail workers have “extremely limited sick leave.”
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She said part-time workers accrue paid leave on an hourly basis, which means they must choose whether to go in while sick or go unpaid.
According to the company’s website, most Apple stores in the US are open until 6pm on Christmas Eve and are closed on Christmas Day.
The advocacy group also informed potential employees who walk off that they can apply for strike funds via the nonprofit organization, Coworker Solidarity Fund.
According to their website, the organization is accepting only waitlist applications for stipends of up to $5,000.
AMAZON WALKOUT
The Apple staffers are the latest employees to stage a walkout this week – after dozens of Amazon workers in Illinois and New York City protested to demand better treatment and higher wages during the holiday rush.
The pre-Christmas strike took place at two Amazon warehouse locations in Staten Island and Cicero, Illinois, on Wednesday.
According to a statement from the activists, workers at four Staten Island facilities staged a “lunchtime walkout,” slamming “unfair labor practices committed by Amazon,” including illegal interference with union organizing.
The activists stated that “in light of the increasing severity of the Covid-19 pandemic and the Omicron variant, we are demanding the return of hazard pay and unlimited unpaid time off.”
A video shared on Twitter by organizer Christian Smalls showed organizers distributing flyers promoting the walkout and gathering food to distribute to employees.
In Illinois, two Amazon facilities near Chicago staged a pre-Christmas walkout during the busiest time of the year.
“We have been passed over for raises. We are being overworked, even when there is sufficient people to work here,” a worker at the DLN2 facility in Cicero said in a live stream posted by the Amazonians United.
“We have not received the bonuses we were promised. There are people here who were hired as permanent workers, and then they took their badges away and made them temporary workers.
“They are staffing this place unsafely, making people work too fast, even though we don’t have to.”
Illinois workers, who work between 1:20 AM and 11:50 AM, are also demanding a $5 per hour raise.
WAREHOUSE HORROR
The protests from Amazon workers came after a tornado ripped through a warehouse in Edwardsville, Illinois, on December 10, leaving six factory employees dead and trapping 100 workers inside.
The three women, all delivery drivers, arrived at the warehouse at 8pm on December 10 and were told to “go straight to the bathroom,” according to a 911 call from inside the building obtained by Business Insider.
In total, at least forty-five people escaped the building alive, and only seven of them worked for Amazon full time, Quartz reported.
The deceased Amazon warehouse workers were later identified as – Clayton Hope, 29, Deandre S. Morrow, 28, Kevin D. Dickey, 62, Etheria S. Hebb, 34, Larry E. Virden, 46, and Austin J. McEwen, 26.
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