Apple has been accused of trying to ram through a new workplace agreement that would see staff work up to 60 hours a week without overtime while obstructing union consultation with workers, slammed as potentially unlawful by representatives.
Following communication breakdowns, the Australian Services Union (ASU) and the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA) are taking their bargaining stoush to the Fair Work Commission on Friday, alleging Apple had breached good faith bargaining principles.
The unions claim Apple, which has 4000 staff in Australia, obstructed their attempts to speak to union members on site about wage negotiations, while also rejecting a request to extend the consultation deadline to August 19.
“We will be seeking good faith bargaining orders against Apple,” SDA national secretary Gerard Dwyer said.
“Staff were only given a copy of the draft enterprise agreement on August 3.”
In a statement, Apple denied it had “set any deadlines”.
“We will continue to hold regular meetings to share and encourage feedback,” a spokesperson said.
“Supporting and retaining the best team members enables us to deliver innovative products and services, and we are pleased to offer very strong compensation for our teams across the country, including annual stock grants.”
The unions also rejected the contents of Apple’s proposed agreement, which locks in a 2.5% pay rise, seen as falling well short of Australia’s record inflation rate of 6.1% — a 32-year high.
The agreement would also see workers paid at least $27.64 an hour or a minimum of $54,617 a year, along with weekend penalty rates, but only grant overtime if worker hours exceeded 76 hours a fortnight excluding the award’s evening rates for work from 6pm to 10pm.
Emeline Gaske, the assistant national secretary of the Australian Services Unions, described Apple’s proposed agreement as unjust.
“The proposed agreement from Apple may be unlawful and its attempts to ram through a substandard agreement that would leave mostly young people working up to 60 hours without overtime is unethical,” she said.
“Apple’s actions show us exactly what is wrong with the process of negotiating pay and conditions for workers in Australia, which is giving employers far too much power.”
Dwyer added that Apple “like to portray itself as a prestige company offering prestige products”, yet is falling short of providing what workers deserve.
“It should be seeking prestige working conditions, rather than trying to sneak through an agreement that would see its Australian workers go backwards,” he said.
“With inflation above 6% and rising, this would see Apple employees already struggling with the cost of living finding it even more difficult to pay for food, fuel, shelter and the other essentials of life.
“For a company that is making at least $11 billion in profits annually from its Australian operations, its behaviour is simply un-Australian.”
In July, Apple posted a June-quarter revenue record of US$83 billion, up 2% year on year.
“As always, we are leading with our values, and expressing them in everything we build, from new features that are designed to protect user privacy and security, to tools that will enhance accessibility, part of our longstanding commitment to create products for everyone,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said at the time.
Emma Elsworthy is Climate Editor at Crikey, SmartCompany, and The Mandarin, and writes daily morning newsletter the Worm. Before joining Crikey in 2021, Emma was a breaking news reporter in ABC’s Sydney newsroom, a journalist at BBC Australia, and a journalist in Fairfax Media’s regional network. She was part of a team awarded a Walkley for coverage of the 2019-2020 Black Summer bushfire crisis, and won the Australian Press Council prize in 2013.
