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SYDNEY – Hundreds of Apple workers in Australia are preparing to strike before Christmas and demand better working conditions and wages, union leaders and employees said.
Less than two days of strike action by about 200 of Apple’s 4,000 employees in Australia has left the US tech giant facing disruption. Labor unrest at its main iPhone plant in China.
Members of the Retail and Fast Food Workers Union of Australia (RAFFWU) are asking Apple Inc ( AAPL.O ) for fixed rosters, known working hours, two consecutive weekends and an agreed annual pay rise.
“This Christmas strike is a way for our members to take back time with family and friends while management refuses to give workers the most basic minimum roster rights,” RAFFWU secretary Josh Cullinan told Reuters. Management will be notified on Monday of the intention to strike.
Efforts earlier this week to bring management to the negotiating table immediately failed, with Apple ( AAPL.O ) refusing to meet until February, he said.
Striking workers will walk out of Apple’s retail stores at 3pm (0400 GMT) on December 23 and stay away through Christmas Eve, when sales of Apple iPhones, watches and other products typically peak.
The move will be nationwide but will have the biggest impact on the two retail outlets in Brisbane, Adelaide and Newcastle each, where the RAFFWU has the largest membership.
An Apple spokesman declined to comment on the negotiations, but said the company “is proud to offer strong compensation and exceptional benefits to our valued team members in Australia.”
In June of this year, Apple workers in Maryland became First retail employees at tech companies to unionize In America. On Thursday, the union set formal dates in January to begin negotiations with Apple.
Apple workers staged a full-day strike in October and a one-hour walkout later that month.
“You can’t put a price on work-life balance,” said one Apple employee, who will join the strike but did not want to be identified for fear of being targeted by management.
“What we’ve ended up with Apple is an arrangement that has stripped away all mandatory benefits that allow workers to have a work-life balance.”
RAFFWU said other strike actions that have been ongoing since earlier this year will be stepped up, with some shops offering iPhone repairs and Apple Watch repairs for a few hours, bans on answering doors in others, bans on sales, and bans on wearing the company’s festive red shirts.
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