Apple Store workers are striking after becoming 'fed up' of conditions

Apple Store in Brisbane, Australia
(Image credit: Apple)

Apple retail workers are set to go on strike over issues relating to their hours and how Apple handles days off, according to a new report.

Workers at Apple Stores in Australia — Brisbane and Newcastle — are set to strike in what would be the first nationally co-ordinated strike by retail workers in the country's history.

Strike action

150 Retail and Fast Food Workers Union (RAFFWU) members at Apple have backed a one-hour stoppage of work next Tuesday, according to local reports, following frustration over ongoing discussions with the company. They believe that the action is the only way forward, despite Apple having agreed to extend bargaining to this Thursday. That after abandoning a push to get its preferred agreement to a vote.

The main bone of contention appears to be the lack of guaranteed days off, with workers said to be "fed up" with the situation. RAFFWU federal secretary Josh Cullinan outlined a situation where they are "spending hours and hours explaining why Apple should put in place minimum conditions – things like weekends, things like rosters that don’t change every week,” the report says.

Apple has reportedly said that part-time workers will get a guaranteed minimum of 19 hours per week, but won't get any rights over getting set days or weekends off. Full-time workers will get two consecutive days off, but no promise of set days.

Apple has reportedly agreed to hold more bargaining meetings this week.

This all comes amid ongoing Apple unionization issues at home in the United States, with the Financial Review noting that the company has seen "walkouts by groups of workers in the US on Christmas Eve."

Apple has so far not commented on this specific situation, but has said that its employees are “deeply valued.”

Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.