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http://www.macnn.com/articles/09/09/22/serious.concerns.about.management/

Alderwood Apple Store staff threaten walkout

updated 09:20 am EDT, Tue September 22, 2009

Serious concerns about management

Workers at the Alderwood Mall Apple Store in Lynnwood, Washington have taken the unusual step of planning a walkout, accounts say. The action is currently expected to take place at 1PM on Saturday, October 3rd. Creatives, Geniuses and Mac Specialists will allegedly leave the building, gaining support from some of the outlet's former employees.

At the heart of the dispute are complaints about the store's management, which is described as being "abusive," possilbly violating state and federal labor laws. Apple's human resources department has not done a proper investigation, workers charge, and no progress is said to have been made by talking with the company's senior retail VP, Ron Johnson. Should the walkout go ahead as planned, it may be the first such labor action in Apple's history.

by MacNN Staff

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retail, Apple, Washington

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Comments

chotty
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jan 2003

+2

09/22, 09:56am | report spam | close Reply |
Wow.

This could get interesting.

bogmonster
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jan 2007

+4

09/22, 10:00am | report spam | close Reply |
Dare I say it...

MobileWe
or perhaps iUnion

Anyhow, good on 'em.

DanielSw
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2009

-13

09/22, 10:02am | report spam | close Reply |
Fire the whole lot of them now

Hire from the other hundreds who applied.

ff11
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Apr 2004

+8

09/22, 10:11am | report spam | close Reply |
What's the beef?

The story gives absolutely no hints as to what this "abusive" behavior was.

Mr. Strat
Junior Member

Joined: Jan 2002

+6

09/22, 10:22am | report spam | close Reply |
Turnover

I used to get job postings for the Seattle and Portland area stores. It looks like there's a lot of employee turnover in these places. I don't know if it's due to crappy management or just kids moving from job to job.

DeezNutts
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Apr 2008

+21

09/22, 10:26am | report spam | close Reply |
Re: Fire the whole lot of them

I think I'd go for firing the managers first. If the whole store is walking out then that speaks volumes about the leadership in that place.

You aren't going to find people walking out during a workday in this economy unless some seriously screwed up sh*t is going down.

DeezNutts
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Apr 2008

-2

09/22, 10:27am | report spam | close Reply |
Re: Fire the whole lot of them

I think I'd go for firing the managers first. If the whole store is walking out then that speaks volumes about the leadership in that place.

You aren't going to find people walking out during a workday in this economy unless some seriously screwed up sh*t is going down.

hayesk
Professional Poster

Joined: Sep 1999

+10

09/22, 10:29am | report spam | close Reply |
Sounds serious

It sounds serious, but the article doesn't mention what their complaints with the management are. There's not enough data here to form a reasonable opinion.

jeff3835
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jun 2005

+12

09/22, 10:36am | report spam | close Reply |
Nothing New

I worked for Apple retail for almost 3 years and it was great until we got a store manager with an attitude and started creating discontent. And I know of a several other stores that are experiencing the same problems with the management staff. And Apple HR is no help at all, they always back the store manager.

b9robot
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Feb 2009

+5

09/22, 10:38am | report spam | close Reply |
Would be nice to know more details

Would be nice to know more details into what kind of abusive behavior by management is going on. Must be really, really, bad for employees to threaten this kind of action.

ScottG
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jan 2005

+7

09/22, 10:50am | report spam | (1 reply) close Reply |
Same Problem at New Jersey Store...

Same Problem at South Jersey Store. Environment SUCKS! Managers Stink, and have a chip on their shoulders. They need professional Staff to manage these people, and not a bunch of kids that get rapidly promoted through the ranks! As soon as they get a little power, then its all down hill from there.

thebiggfrogg
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jul 2007

+1

09/22, 11:00am | report spam | close Reply |
Coming soon...

...its only a matter of time before young Testicles shows up. He ought to be all over this story like st**k on sh*t!

Must be a serious issue though to engender this kind of solidarity.

Arty50
Mac Elite

Joined: May 2000

+2

09/22, 11:24am | report spam | close Reply |
While details would be nice...

I think it speaks volumes when non-unionized workers walk out in unison.

Apple Retail /= Apple Corporate. While most of the retail stores are excellent front ends for the company, some of them are atrocious. My friend's ordeal at the Reno store made me want to go in there and beat some heads.

thebiggfrogg
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jul 2007

-1

09/22, 12:05pm | report spam | close Reply |
Perhaps...

the management are Steve Jobs illegitimate children ; ). He was quite a terror back in the day. Manager Lisa 1, Manager Lisa 2, Manager Lisa 3--send in the clones. Don't worry they're here.

nat
Junior Member

Joined: Mar 2002

+4

09/22, 12:17pm | report spam | close Reply |
same ol' story

in my long history in retail (younger days) management was either a blessing or a curse.
you get these guys that have no people skills in a management position and things can go down quickly.
don't know what "abusive" entails in this case but in my experience it doesn't take much for some of these people in power to get big heads.

tonewheel
Mac Enthusiast

Joined: May 1999

-1

09/22, 12:44pm | report spam | close Reply |
Creatives? Really?

Who exactly are the "creatives" in a Apple Store?

And they'd better be careful about who they call a Genius.

wakkedoff
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Sep 2009

+4

09/22, 12:45pm | report spam | close Reply |
Not Surprised

After working for more than 5 year @ an Apple Store I can understand why this is happening.
Sure all the Apple store strive to provide the best customer experience/interaction possible, within reason. But they never practice what they preach with the staff. Many of "Managers" are paper pusher with authority, who never really listen to the staff. And to be honest HR is a joke, they really don't investigate or listen to the concerns of the employees. They automatically back the managers, without doing any research. Having worked for Apple Retail for more than 5 years, I honest say that this is not a surprise. They need to sit down and re-evaluated how the staff is treated. Last I checked happy employees produce more and actually like returning back to work.

ebeyer
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jun 2004

0

09/22, 01:58pm | report spam | close Reply |
Rember the ATCs

Correct me if I'm wrong, but labor troubles at Apple go back at least as far
as the 1980s. Lack of privacy, obsession with secrecy and "non-poaching"
agreements have been cited in news articles over the past few years.

Would anyone here be surprised if Steve Jobs went Ronald Reagan on
this store and fired everybody?

legacyb4
Mac Elite

Joined: May 2001

+4

09/22, 02:33pm | report spam | close Reply |
Solidarity!

Works wonders when everyone is on the same page.

tmurray
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Sep 2009

0

09/22, 04:07pm | report spam | close Reply |
It's about time. Go them!

Ditto for me. Management was a disaster at my store and the kids they hire drink the kool-aid, then get promoted with zero experience. I was a genius that came to the retail side with more experience than any of the stores deserves and was supposed to oversee the geniuses... yea.. They pay c*** for a go nowhere position, but paint a rosy picture. Reailty: it's a mall job. We weren't allowed to get paid for more than 40 hours, but would often have to be in the store or the mall for more than that. Required "breaks" would bring you in at 39.9 hours...no more. HR did nothing at all. Best move I made was quitting. It's no wonder the stores have a turnover rate like pancakes.

clwilla
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jul 2009

-2

09/23, 12:12am | report spam | close Reply |
They'll walk out

and not have a job to return to on Monday. They'll all lose their jobs, and they'll deserve it no matter the circumstances. You don't like your job, leave. There's no need for theatrics as they generally don't work. Apple will notice nothing and take no action until they come to it on their own. This will have nothing to do with it, only sales numbers will.

rtbarry
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2001

+1

09/25, 02:24pm | report spam | close Reply |
i think microsoft just found...

one of their new store managers :-)

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Alderwood Apple Store staff threaten walkout

updated 09:20 am EDT, Tue September 22, 2009

Serious concerns about management

Wow.

Dare I say it...

Fire the whole lot of them now

What's the beef?

Turnover

Re: Fire the whole lot of them

Re: Fire the whole lot of them

Sounds serious

Nothing New

Would be nice to know more details

Same Problem at New Jersey Store...

Coming soon...

While details would be nice...

Perhaps...

same ol' story

Creatives? Really?

Not Surprised

Rember the ATCs

Solidarity!

It's about time. Go them!

They'll walk out

i think microsoft just found...

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Alderwood Apple Store staff threaten walkout

updated 09:20 am EDT, Tue September 22, 2009

Serious concerns about management

Related Articles

Recent Articles

Wow.

Dare I say it...

Fire the whole lot of them now

What's the beef?

Turnover

Re: Fire the whole lot of them

Re: Fire the whole lot of them

Sounds serious

Nothing New

Would be nice to know more details

Same Problem at New Jersey Store...

Coming soon...

While details would be nice...

Perhaps...

same ol' story

Creatives? Really?

Not Surprised

Rember the ATCs

Solidarity!

It's about time. Go them!

They'll walk out

i think microsoft just found...

Login Here

Register for our weekly email newsletter:

Connect tools:

Subscribe

to our RSS

Follow us

on Twitter

Most Read

10 Most Discussed

MacNN Marketplace