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US labour officials say Apple illegally restricted employees’ right to discuss workplace issues on Slack workplace messaging system
US labour board officials have accused Apple of illegally restricting employees’ use of workplace messaging application Slack in a complaint filed by the National Labor Relations Board.
The complaint accuses the tech giant of maintaining illegal workplace rules around the acceptable uses of Slack, illegally firing an employee who advocated for workplace changees on the platform, requiring another worker to delete a social media post and creating the impression that employees’ social media use was being surveilled.
The case is one of several pending cases by the NLRB accusing the company of breaches of workplace law.
The new complaint is based on a complaint in 2021 by Janneke Parrish, who said Apple fired her in the same year for leading employee activism.
Restrictions
Parrish used Slack as well as publicly accessible social media to advocate for remote working policies, distribute a pay equity survey, disclose alleged sex and race discrimination at the company and post critical open letters, the NLRB complaint says.
The complaint says Apple does not allow staff to create new Slack channels without permission from managers and requires posts about workplace concerns to be directed to a manager or a “People Support” group.
Parrish’s lawyer Laurie Burgess said the case aims to hold Apple accountable for “facially unlawful rules” and terminating employees for the “core protected activity” of calling out gender discrimination and other civil rights violations that “permeated the workplace”.
The complaint seeks an order requiring Apple to remove its policies and reimbursement for Parrish for lost income and other financial impacts of being fired.
‘Coercion’
Earlier this month the board said Apple required staff in the US to sign illegal confidentiality, non-disclosure and non-compete agreements and of imposing overly broad misconduct and social media policies.
The complaint accuses Apple of “interfering with, restraining, and coercing employees in the exercise of” their federal labour rights.
An administrative judge will hold an initial hearing in that case in February unless Apple settles.
The judge’s decision can be reviewed by the five-member labour board and can be appealed in federal court.
At the time of that complaint, Apple said it respects its employees’ rights to discuss wages, hours and working conditions.
“We strongly disagree with these claims and will continue to share the facts at the hearing,” Apple stated.
Labour activism
Apple has seen an uptick in labour activism in recent years, in common with other US companies.
A retail store in Towson, Maryland, voted in June 2022 to form the company’s first US retail union, while another Apple Store in Oklahoma City voted in October 2022 to join the Communications Workers of America.
In May of this year workers at an Apple retail store in New Jersey voted not to join a union, in a setback for post-pandemic unionising efforts at the company.
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