Inside Apple's Latest Push Against Its Retail Stores Unionizing

Apple is continuing?its push to keep retail stores from unionizing. Also: A?deep look inside efforts?to diversify the company’s product and component production beyond China,?job cuts hit Apple’s corporate ranks, and?another executive departs.

The Starters

Apple Inc.’s attempts to keep its stores from unionizing are continuing, with the iPhone maker looking to avoid the kind of labor inroads seen at companies like Amazon.com Inc. and Starbucks Corp.

Over the past two weeks, managers at Apple’s?roughly 270 US retail outlets held meetings with staff members to discuss?the risks of unionization and provide a planned update on bargaining between the company and the first unionized store, a location in Towson, Maryland.?

The talks, held during gatherings known as Daily Downloads, followed a bit of a lull at Apple.?Months ago, the company held Q&A and information sessions aimed at addressing unions and?its retail chief?sent a video to staffers?on the topic.?Apple also withheld new?benefits from?unionized locations,?drawing outcry from labor advocates.

The efforts have so far appeared to work: Only two Apple stores have unionized —?Towson and?Oklahoma City —?and locations that sought to organize?workers?in Atlanta and St. Louis have walked back their?efforts.?That means that the current state of unionization at Apple is a far cry from the momentum seen at Starbucks and other chains.

The latest round of meetings was?consistent across all of Apple’s US stores, with the corporate side of the company issuing a prepared message to be read to staffers. During the gatherings, management used the state of the Towson store as a bit of a cautionary tale — in what some employees saw as a scare tactic and others as the company simply laying out the facts.?

Managers told workers that the union representing Towson employees — International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, or IAM —?is requesting dues that amount to 1.5% of pay. Managers said that amount of money could quickly add up over time and that employees who don’t comply with the payment could be terminated within a month,?based on the union’s proposals...

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