Apple agrees to negotiate with Australian Apple Store retail union

Sept. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Apple has agreed to negotiate with Australian unions after being called a bully and after the country's unions asked the country's Fair Work Commission to intervene.

Apple's proposal to the Australian Fair Work Commission includes a minimum wage rate of 17 percent above the incentive rate in addition to the weekend penalty rate. Employees will be paid more after 8:00 p.m. local time. Previously, higher wages were charged for work after 10:00 p.m.

Apple is also willing to provide a 2.8 percent wage increase in 2023, followed by a 2.6 percent increase in 2024 and 2025. The union wants Apple employees to have at least one weekend off per month and two consecutive days off when working on weekends.

Gerard Dwyer, national general secretary of the Australian Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association, said Apple should not be allowed to bargain with the Fair Work Commission and accused the company of behaving like "a bully in a cheap suit.

"This large multinational company should be thinking more about the welfare of its Australian workforce than trying to impose a predetermined outcome that it wants to impose and cannot bargain with," Dwyer said. "This is Australia and not the United States."

Apple is also facing increasing unionization efforts in the U.S. In June, Apple retail store workers in Maryland voted to join the union, and Apple reportedly did not intend to oppose the vote at the time.

However, according to an Apple Townsend employee, an August report showed that Apple representatives raised anti-union talking points.

In April, Apple hired anti-union lawyers from San Francisco-based law firm Littler Mendelson, which has the advantage of handling labor and employment litigation.

Apple has more than 65,000 retail employees, including those who sell, repair and troubleshoot products and services. The company's retail operations account for 36 percent of the company's $336 billion in revenue in 2021.