Plenty has occurred in recent weeks, and we share a summary of bargaining progress below.

Wages

Apple has offered annual wage increases for every worker covered by a new Agreement.

These increases would apply each 1 July.

They would apply the percentage increase determined by the independent industrial umpire, the Fair Work Commission.

This is an important step forward.

NEA1 excluded roughly three quarters of the Apple workforce from any guaranteed increase.

This proposal means that every Apple worker covered by the Agreement will be receiving an increase as determined by the FWC.

Discussions continue about the appropriate quantum of an increase floor, to ensure that workers are not disadvantaged if the FWC unexpectedly decides on a low or zero increase during the term of the Agreement.

Leave provisions Improved

During the last bargaining meetings held on 2 and 3 May, Apple presented their leave proposals to the bargaining representatives. There has been solid progress on several key claims.

In a big win for Apple’s retail workforce, Apple has offered paid study leave of 2 days per year as a term of a new Agreement.  The leave will be available for study which relates to or is unrelated to your work at Apple.  This is a significant step forward for retail staff, who were previously excluded from Apple’s paid study leave policy. It will be in addition to your annual leave so workers will no longer have to burn their annual leave balance to sit for exams or to submit other assignments.

There were also discussions on the inclusion of paid menstruation leave for workers, however Apple has given strong signals it will not agree to this leave outside of a statutory (Government) imposed framework such as occurs in some other countries.  Apple’s position on this issue will be further tested in coming weeks.

Importantly, Apple has offered to incorporate its bereavement / compassionate leave policy of 10 days paid leave into a new Agreement and agreed to expand the definition of ‘family’ for the purpose of compassionate/bereavement leave.

The SDA remains in discussions about our claims for improved Parental leave and will update members as soon as there are any developments to report.

Apple has listened to Union negotiators and offered paid gender affirmation leave of 10 days per year as a term of the new Agreement.

There are lingering concerns whether the quantum of the leave is sufficient.  However, this movement by Apple to incorporate gender affirmation leave into a new Agreement is a considerable step forward in ensuring an inclusive workplace at Apple.

Apple has, pleasingly, changed its view on incorporating many of its leave policies into terms of any new Agreement. This is important for transparency and enforceability. Apple can, at any time, decide to offer more beneficial policies, but it also means Apple cannot withdraw or reduce these entitlements during the term of the Agreement.

SDA application for the Fair Work Commission’s Assistance with Bargaining

Most bargaining parties have acknowledged that with over 100 bargaining representatives participating and over 500 claims, bargaining has been challenging and has not proceeded efficiently.

The SDA and the ASU have sought the Commission’s assistance to remedy this.

Meetings between the Unions and some bargaining representatives resulted in the FWC assigning Commissioner Matheson to chair future meetings.

Commissioner Matheson has already assisted the parties in narrowing down the major points of contention and helped in drafting the agendas for our next bargaining meetings on 16 and 17 May.

The FWC’s intervention in bargaining has been both helpful and productive and we look forward to having Commissioner Matheson chair the next round of meetings.

Next Steps

Bargaining meetings are scheduled to resume on 16 and 17 May, with the following topics for negotiation:

–          Wages

–          Rostering and Scheduling

–          Penalty Rates and Overtime

Bargaining resumed on 18 and 19 April with over 110 bargaining representatives contributing to robust and occasionally productive discussions on scheduling, classifications and leave entitlements.

Progress remains desperately slow. However, there are some promising signs that Apple has clearly heard the SDA’s demands for a better deal.

PROMISING SIGNS

The SDA is pleased that Apple has made key concessions on:

–          Fortnightly roster option for full-time workers which facilitates every second weekend off; and

–          Two days paid study leave per annum for retail workers (previously only offered to non-retail workforce).

Apple also appears to be more relaxed about some of its leave policies being incorporated into the proposed Agreement. This is important for certainty, transparency, and enforceability.

MORE WORK REMAINS

The SDA maintains there is further work required on:

–          how part-time hours and rosters will work;

–          Apple’s disappointing withdrawal of the non-working day public holiday benefit; and

–          key outstanding minimum Award rights.

Apple is also yet to explain or confirm:

–          why it will (or may) require more casual work to be performed under any new Agreement if it has still highly flexible part-time work and extensively uses FWE’s (fixed term part-time work) during peak trading periods; and

–          its proposed minimum wage offer to apply across the workforce covered by the Agreement.

With over 500 bargaining claims on the table the progress has been sluggish, but the SDA is working carefully through all our claims and supporting other bargaining representatives’ claims where needed.

DRAFTING COMMITTEE

We are also yet to see a working draft of the proposed Agreement.

In a positive step, Apple has committed to setting up a drafting sub-committee with representatives from the SDA, ASU, and the EBRs.

Through our participation in this sub-committee, the SDA will work to ensure the progress and goodwill achieved in bargaining to date does not evaporate when the detail needs to be committed to writing.

Bargaining at Apple has continued in March and April with online meetings held on 21, 28 and 29 March and 5 April.  The meetings continue to be well attended with approximately 110-115 bargaining representatives attending each meeting.

Until 27 March, progress was sluggish and disappointing.

Following applications lodged by the SDA and ASU in the Fair Work Commission requesting the Commission’s assistance in bargaining, Apple has now made substantial concessions on the Union’s and other claims and improved their offer on the rejected NEA1.

However, many of these concessions are yet to be supported by adequate detail.  The SDA is now carefully considering these in-principle concessions and awaits detailed drafting.

The devil is always in the detail!

SCHEDULING

Discussions have focused primarily on hours of work, rostering, overtime and penalty rates, with Apple proposing significant changes on 27 March, including:

–          Improvements to the advance notice provided for weekly rosters;

–          4-hour minimum shifts;

–          Increased late night penalties;

–          Overtime payable if a 12-hour break between shifts is not provided;

–          Proposed ranges of part-time hours of 15-19 hours, 20-24 hours and 25-29 hours; and

–          More options proposed for days off work.

The SDA reiterates these offers have not been accepted because there is much more detail to be discussed and agreed, for example:

–          the SDA maintains that workers regularly working more than their contracted hours should have the right to convert those additional hours to base contract hours at least once every 12 months;

–          the SDA has provided Apple with draft 9-day fortnight rosters for consideration;

–          the SDA has provided Apple with rosters which facilitate both consecutive days off, including weekend days, and three consecutive days off each fortnight including weekend days;

–          Apple has agreed to conduct a survey of its workforce to determine workers’ preferred availability;

–          We expect Apple to use this data to properly consider and test more predictable and regular work patterns, and the SDA has asked Apple to share this data with bargaining representatives as soon as possible.

APPLE’S CASUAL KITE-FLYING

It is worrying that Apple is now kite-flying the use of casuals in its retail workforce.

Apple has successfully operated its business in the Australian market without the need for casuals for some time.  Apple argues its existing flexible rostering arrangements enable this to occur.

However, Apple is suggesting any greater predictability and regularity of permanent hours of work sought in a new Agreement will come with the price tag of needing casuals to maintain flexibility for meeting customer service.

Alarmingly, Apple’s representatives have also suggested that the wages and conditions of casual Apple workers would be modelled on minimum award conditions and rates of pay.

To be clear, this is a retrograde step. It would create a two-tiered workforce with casual Apple retail workers disadvantaged compared to their permanent co-workers.  It would also perversely encourage Apple to employ cheaper casuals.

The SDA strongly opposes the introduction of casual workers on the terms so far proposed by Apple.

CLASSIFICATIONS

Apple has also made concessions on classifications:

–          Acknowledging the base retail sales role is aligned with Level 3 of the Award (and not Level 1 as previously put);

–          Upgrading the People Operation Planners and Genius Admin on their February offer; and

–          A 5 level rather than a 3 level classification structure

However, there remains much more detail required with position descriptions attached to each role.

WAGES

There is yet to be any detailed discussion on wages.

However, Apple has already conceded it will offer a pay rise to all workers covered by the Agreement.  This is an improvement on NEA1, in which only a quarter of the workforce was to be guaranteed any increase.

However, we await confirmation of the Apple’s offer on the quantum of that wage increase.

We look forward to a full discussion on this key issue soon.

SURVEY – HAVE YOUR SAY

Apple has agreed to an SDA request, echoed by other bargaining representatives, for a detailed survey of staff to map preferred availability.

The SDA is hopeful this survey will facilitate more fruitful discussions around more stable and predictable rosters with more choice for workers to enjoy time off on weekends.

We encourage you to participate.

Bargaining resumed on 21 March and there is little good news to report.

The SDA is disappointed to report that progress was glacial with only one item of the agenda discussed – Apple’s scheduling proposal.  There are another 16 items listed for discussion just regarding hours and rostering which are yet to be touched.

The SDA is also disappointed to share that Apple has so far rejected key Union claims which will provide workers with more rostering predictability and fairness so you can plan and live your lives outside of work at Apple.

APPLE’S SCHEDULING OFFER – NOT GOOD ENOUGH

Apple’s scheduling proposal remain deficient because:

1.       Apple wants to retain the right to change your hours of work from week to week, meaning there are no fixed hours of work each week with start and finish times and days of work able to be changed up to 52 times per year.

2.       Apple’s offer has regressed with part-time workers guaranteed as few as 15 hours per week under its revamped proposal, rather than a minimum of 19 hours of week which we understood to be settled.

3.       Workers are not guaranteed two consecutive days off per week unless they agree to take them during the weekdays.

4.       Apple thinks fairness should be determined by a random number generator, with workers competing against each other for time off work and letting a computer decide who wins.

5.       Many other unanswered questions because we are still talking about it!

The SDA reiterates Tuesday’s meeting was disappointing, but we will persist and consider other options to make bargaining more efficient and productive.

Workers deserve and expect a new Agreement soon.

The next meetings will be held on Tuesday 28th and Wednesday 28th March. We’ll provide another update after that meeting.

YOUR EASTER ROSTER

Workers have recently written to the SDA sharing their concerns about their Easter roster.

Apple’s proposed rosters for Easter may not comply with minimum contractual and rostering rights, with at least one store advising their staff they would have to dip into their own leave entitlements or pick up another shift if they wanted to receive their minimum entitlements.   This is unacceptable and likely to breach both the current Enterprise Agreement, underpay your minimum contracted hours and/or breach federal workplace law under the National Employment Standards.

The Union continues its inquiries and work with our colleagues at the ASU regarding this concerning development.

But it raises two important issues:

1.       Is your 2023 Easter roster lawful? And

2.       How long has this been happening? Are you entitled to backpay or the re-crediting of leave entitlements from previous years if this has been Apple’s practice?

DON’T GET RIPPED OFF

We encourage you to join the SDA today and let us check your contracted hours and roster today.  Public holidays are not an excuse for Apple to reduce your minimum contracted hours.

After a brief break over the Christmas trading period, the Union is looking forward to the resumption of bargaining in February.

Last year’s overwhelming ‘No’ vote sent Apple a strong message.  Apple workers won’t accept a substandard deal and they deserve to be heard.  The SDA will continue to ensure your voice is heard.

Further discussions have been held in January with Apple’s legal representative, and there has been progress on some procedural issues.

Our aim is to make bargaining fairer, more efficient, and effective.

The SDA and ASU have pressed that future bargaining needed better structure including:

·       Proper scheduling of meetings

·       Engagement on the claims

·       Real responses to claims

·       Time to review any proposals

Apple has informed the SDA that there is a revamp of their bargaining team with Leaders:

Eddie McGroy, Inger Adamson, Ade Hunt from Retail,

Henry Sheng, Murali Karuppiah, Matthew May from AppleCare

Trudy Holtzhausen from Corporate: clerical, admin, tech, sales and engineering employees.

Subject matter experts to support the bargaining team, Vanessa Gyde and Karen Leow from the People team, Bernard Ryan from ELR, Lei Tang and Kyle Manis from Retail Operations and Jessica Stuckley from the Compensation Team.

Apple has advised it is providing ‘training’ to the Bargaining Representatives in the first week of February.

This may have some value, but it is late given the ‘at the table training’ representatives went through. The training provider has only provided the broad topics and not any precise details to the SDA and ASU, which is disappointing.

It is likely that bargaining will re-start in the last week of February and will be face-to-face in Sydney, Melbourne and/or Brisbane.

The SDA hopes this time that a decent and fair agreement can be reached, with Apple properly responding to the claims including better rostering, better recognition of skills and fair pay rises for everyone.

The SDA will continue with their senior and experienced negotiation team.  We remain determined to get Apple workers the good deal that they deserve.

The SDA is aware of the termination application that was lodged late last year. We are currently reviewing the Fair Work Commission directions and will provide further information to members shortly.

The proposed Apple Agreement has been voted down with 68% voting no and 87% of Apple team members participating in the vote.

This is a good outcome for Apple members as the proposed Agreement was not good enough.

Thank you to everyone who voted down the Agreement by voting no and putting a stop to this unfair deal.

The SDA will now call on Apple to return to negotiations and reach a fairer Agreement that importantly improves rostering conditions and secures better pay rises.

Your current pay and conditions will continue to apply.

We will continue to keep you updated throughout this process.

Remember, your union membership ensures that you have ongoing support, advice and information for any workplace matter and we will continue to raise your concerns with the Company.

If you have any questions, please contact us.

In response to an ongoing effort by Apple Australia workers to get a fair agreement, UNI Global Union has issued the following statement:

Apple Australia has rejected workers’ calls for decent work arrangements, as strongly argued for by the SDA and ASU unions. UNI Global Union’s Australian affiliates, the SDA and ASU, are advocating for workers to VOTE NO against the subpar agreement that Apple is trying to quickly ram through—which has below inflation wage rises and staffing provisions that don’t allow for decent work-life balance.

Workers’ decision to vote “no” on this substandard deal is fully supported by UNI, who represents tech and commerce workers worldwide.

Regardless of the vote outcome, unions will be pushing to ensure that Apple workers are not subjected to a cut-rate deal and will press their case in the Fair Work Commission if required.

The ASU and SDA have the full support of UNI Global Union in fighting for decent working arrangements for workers

The SDA was back in the Commission Tuesday the 20th of September after Apple announced that workers would head to a vote on a proposed Agreement on the 27th of September.

After a conciliation session led by the Commission the following was agreed between the unions and Apple:

• Apple will not issue a proposed agreement
• Apple will not hold the vote on the proposed agreement scheduled for the 27th-29th September.
• Apple will not have another access period for any proposed Agreement or set another vote time until after Tuesday 11 October.
• The SDA will provide Apple a list of claims and issues we are still seeking a response to by the end of Wednesday 21 September.
• Apple will provide a response to each of these claims by the end of Friday 23 September.
• Apple and the unions will then meet twice a week from 26 September to 7th October at dates and times to be agreed.

Apple first informed workers on 3 August that it wanted to negotiate a new set of conditions that will apply to you at work.

Apple set a tight timeline for any negotiations with workers about these conditions.  It demanded any issues be raised and claims made by the SDA by Monday 22 August.

This is neither fair nor appropriate and Apple employees deserve better from their employer.

Workers need reasonable time to review Apple’s proposals, ask questions, raise legitimate concerns and make claims.

The SDA has, along with many Apple employees, raised concerns over this short timeline but Apple has rejected out of hand any changes to its timeline.

As your union the SDA is now taking Apple to the Fair Work Commission to argue for a better timeline and to compel Apple to engage reasonably with the SDA.

The Fair Work Commission has called this matter on as a matter of urgency and it will be heard on 26 August.

The SDA will keep you up to date with any developments as they occur.