Apple Store employees use Android phones to help keep their unionizing efforts secret – Washington Post

To avoid detection, the Apple staff looking to unionize have held secret meetings and communicated using encrypted messaging using Android phones rather than iPhones to avoid any possibility of snooping by Apple, The Washington Post, said, citing anonymous sources familiar with union drives at multiple Apple Stores in the US.

According to a research quoted by The Washington Post,

“Employees at several Apple Stores across the country are quietly working to unionize, according to people familiar with the efforts, as growing dissent among hourly workers threatens to disrupt one of the most stolid tech giants.”

Mobile operating system Android is Google’s competitor to Apple’s iOS.

Groups at at least two Apple retail stores are backed by major national unions and are preparing to file paperwork with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in the near future, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential plans. At least a half dozen more locations are at less-advanced stages in the unionization process, these people say. The reports also claim that Apple management has tried to convince staff that such a move won’t be helpful.

Apple has more than 500 retail locations around the world and more than 270 in the United States, according to its website. It employs more than 65,000 retail workers. Sales through Apple retail stores and the Apple website made up 36 percent of the company’s $366 billion in total revenue in the 2021 fiscal year, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

Apple workers told The Post they were in part encouraged by successful union drives among Starbucks staff.