“I think the driving force is the experience in America and the deep fear workers have of reclaiming their marginal power in the workplace,” he said.
He acknowledged that the number of workers who went on strike was modest, but noted that of the three unions involved, the Retail and Fast Food Union represented the largest number of Apple workers. . The action will have a symbolic repercussion as it is “the biggest in Apple’s history in Australia,” he added.
Union members also voted for a 24-hour strike if Apple tries to agree to a vote without union approval.
Unionization of Apple workers is a relatively recent development in Australia. When the company negotiated a final agreement with its employees in 2014, there was no union involvement. What has changed since then is the creation of new unions, retail and fast food unions.
According to Andrew Stewart, an employment law expert at the University of Adelaide, Australia’s retail sector has never been a hub for labor. Both union tactics are to blame: Sectors, Shops, Distributors and Allied Employees Associations. According to critics, the union focused on being able to reach agreements with employers, sometimes at the expense of achieving the best results for workers.
The Retail and Fast Food Workers Union was founded in 2016 out of frustration with larger unions and has established itself as a more active and militant alternative. The new union was set up as an unregistered trade union as Australia aims to avoid having multiple unions in the same sector. While it is still possible to negotiate and organize strikes on behalf of employees, they do not have the broad rights and obligations of a registered trade union.
Professor Stewart said the challenges for unions competing with multinationals are two-fold. At the local level in Australia, the trend of declining union interest and membership must be bucked. At the global level, they also need to “find ways to develop effective collective voices across national borders.”
Tripp Mickle contributed a report from San Francisco.