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http://www.macnn.com/articles/01/09/03/former.apple/

Former Apple worker complains to WSJ

updated 06:00 pm EDT, Mon September 3, 2001

 
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The Wall Street Journal has posted a compendium of reader input on the issue of wage insurance for workers, including this criticism of Apple's system: "The layoff was very nice with a big cash settlement, but that was because Apple feared lawsuits, not because we had any predefined special rights. At Apple, if you are a contractor, you are a second-class citizen. You don't get most of the perks that the "regular employees" get, and you cannot do a job with a management role: all managers are regular employees... I don't regret being laid off from Apple."


by MacNN Staff

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  1. asterizk

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Jan 2001

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    09/03, 06:34pm | report spam | Reply |

    not strange

    I've never worked for a company where contractors are managers or get the perks of regular employees. I think this is pretty normal. Not really newsworthy, anyway.


    Krishen

  1. wlonh

    Professional Poster

    Joined: Mar 1999

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    09/03, 06:43pm | report spam | Reply |

    yeah...

    " At Apple, if you are a contractor, you are a second-class citizen." OK, now substitute any corporate name with that of Apple in the preceding quote. That is the reality of the job market. There are any number of reasons that businesses/corporations increasingly hire contractors rather than "regular employees", only the most naive need have these reasons delineated.

    If you have not read up on this matter, one illuminating book to read is "Fast Food Nation" by Eric Schlosser. While it is primarily an exposé of the fast food business, it also describes the operative corporate paradigm in the matter of employment.

  1. \0

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    09/03, 06:57pm | report spam | Reply | delete

    Looks like it's been sai

    ...I say "Welcome to the world of being a temporary/contract employee".

  1. Joined:

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    09/03, 07:15pm | report spam | Reply | delete

    DUH !!

    I am sure this was spelled out in their contract before they signed on. If they (the contract workers) didn't want to get shid canned at Apple's whim, then they shouldn't have taken the job.

  1. ihxo

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    09/03, 07:37pm | report spam | Reply |

    I don't regret being ...

    ...don't regret being laid off from Apple. ?? LOL it's apple's decision to "lay off" you, you have no choice but to be "laid off", so this is a rather passive thing.

    if you decide to leave apple yourself then you can "regret" or to "not regret". in this case I think it's apple's choice to "regret or" "not regret" firing you.

  1. Joined:

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    09/03, 07:37pm | report spam | Reply | delete

    pretty standard stuff

    regarding the fact that contractors don't have the same "perks" as regular employees. Also pretty scandalous in the self-proclaimed greatest country in the world that some people are left without basic healtcare, even when having a job.
    "Fast food nation" is indeed a good book on that subject and also on the even more unacceptable subject of illegal immigrant work.
    Anyhow, not sure what the guy complaining was thinking. I am surprised that a contractor even had any compensation to be honest.

    villalobos

  1. Joined:

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    09/03, 07:38pm | report spam | Reply | delete

    pretty standard stuff

    regarding the fact that contractors don't have the same "perks" as regular employees. Also pretty scandalous in the self-proclaimed greatest country in the world that some people are left without basic healtcare, even when having a job.
    "Fast food nation" is indeed a good book on that subject and also on the even more unacceptable subject of illegal immigrant work.
    Anyhow, not sure what the guy complaining was thinking. I am surprised that a contractor even had any compensation to be honest.

    villalobos

  1. \0

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    09/03, 08:00pm | report spam | Reply | delete

    Good corporate ethics

    Over the years, I've worked as both a contractor and a regular employee, and I've been laid off twice, both as a full-time regular employee; once I received a generous exit package and once I received just two-weeks pay. Apple is benevolent in the extreme to provide severance for contract workers. I've never known severance for contractors to be anything but an anomaly in corporate America. This the USA and you can sue anyone for anything, but I fail to see how contractors could bring meritorious cases against Apple for letting them go. Were I working as a contractor and was told I was to be let go, I would swallow hard. When I was told I was getting severance, I would faint dead away. Apple is presently setting a fine example for other corporations in this country.

  1. mlg

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Sep 2001

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    09/03, 08:41pm | report spam | Reply |

    Cry me a river......

    Come on, if you don't like it quit. You knew the terms of employment before you said yes, so speak with your feet.... walk, run or whatever you want to do if you don't like the terms.

    I know all about contractors, 2nd, 3rd, 4th class citizens. I am a contractor, I let them treat me like a 2nd class citizen all they want -- you know why?!

    I am there because they cannot do their job. It is resentment and fear they have for you.

    Most folks who are working as full time employees are so freaking lazy and inept it is not funny.

    I get at least $10-$15k more a year then the employees of the company I am working for/at.

    plus every year I get a bonus and alot of other perks they never see.

    So you see, it is all in the deal you sign up for.

    Shop around.

    If you settle for c***, then don't cry when you get c***.

    - mlg

  1. mdeatherage

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

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    09/03, 09:06pm | report spam | Reply |

    Apple and contractors

    In the late 1980s, Apple faced a class-action lawsuit from its contractors, as did several other tech companies. Apple had treated most contract employees no different than salaried employees -- they were allowed to attend company meetings, go to off-site picnics and company-sponsored events, given gifts that employees got, and so forth. The lawsuit said that since Apple was treating contractors like salaried employees, they were owed all the benefits that salaried employees received, including compensation for benefits (even though the contracts paid more than salary because they had no benefits) and vacation time and the like. A court agreed, and Apple had to pay a few million dollars in back compensation to hundreds of then-current and former contract employees. I knew one guy (a great programmer) who got close to $20,000.

    When that happened, the rules changed. From then on, and to today, contractors are treated very differently because if they're not, Apple has to pay the higher contract fees *and* benefits. Microsoft fought and lost the same battle in the 1990s. Don't blame the company; blame the courts that said being nice was an unprofitable move.

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