Following the lead of the United Kingdom and the United States, workers in Australia have announced a holiday strike. Hundreds of Apple employees in the country are ready to strike ahead of Christmas in order to demand improved working conditions and compensation, according to union officials and employees. It is expected to exacerbate the company’s already difficult task of meeting demand due to worker unrest and a resulting production shortage at the China factory.
Approximately 4,000 employees across Australia will take part in the two-day strike. Fixed rosters, known hours of work, two-day weekends, and an agreed-upon annual wage increase are among the demands of members of Australia’s Retail and Fast Food Workers Union (RAFFWU).
“This Christmas strike is a way for our members to take back their time with family and friends while management continues to refuse to give workers the most basic minimum rostering rights,” RAFFWU secretary Josh Cullinan told Reuters. He further said that the management will be notified on Monday of the intention to strike.
According to him, management has refused to meet expectations till February.
Striking workers will walk out of Apple’s retail outlets nationwide on 23rd December
Strikers will walk out of Apple stores nationwide at 3 p.m. local time on December 23 and will not work on Christmas Eve, when sales of Apple iPhones, watches, and other products are at their highest.
Two retail outlets in Brisbane, as well as one each in Adelaide and Newcastle, are expected to be the most impacted.
An Apple spokesman declined to comment, but told Reuters that the company is “proud to reward our valued Team members in Australia with strong compensation and exceptional benefits”.
Apple workers in the US went on a strike in October
Apple employees in Maryland, US, were the first retail employees of the tech giant to unionize in the United States earlier in June, and the Union announced formal dates in January to begin negotiations with Apple on Thursday. The workers staged a full-day strike in October, as well as a one-hour walkout later that month.
“You can’t put a price on work-life balance,” one Apple employee said.
“What we have ended up with Apple is an arrangement where all the non-mandatory benefits that allow a work-life balance to workers have been taken off.”
Employees will also escalate other actions, such as a ban on iPhone and Apple Watch repairs during specific hours in some locations, bans on answering the door in others, bans on conducting any sales, and a prohibition on wearing the company’s celebratory red t-shirt.