Apple to increase retail employees' base pay to $22 p/h amid unionization push, rising...

midian182

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In brief: In the midst of unionization efforts and rising inflation pushing up the cost of living, Apple has announced it will increase pay for retail and corporate workers later this year. Starting wages for new store employees will go from the current $20 per hour to $22, though this will be higher in some regions.

CNBC writes that the move comes during a historically tight labor market in the US. Inflation hit 8.3% in April, the fastest rate in more than 40 years, as unemployment remains low at 3.6%. It's led to many workers, especially those in the tech industry, leaving their current positions to find work elsewhere that offers better pay or benefits. Illustrating this was Apple's former director of machine learning, who quit the firm earlier this month over its return to in-person work policy.

Apple has also faced a unionization push from at least six stores, reportedly due to wages failing to keep up with inflation. Outlets in Maryland, Georgia, and New York have announced plans this year to form unions, something Apple wants to avoid; there were reports of workers using Android phones to hide their unionization intentions from bosses.

According to the Wall Street Journal, some Apple workers will have their pay increased from July, though whether $22 per hour is enough remains to be seen. Unionization demands at Apple's store in New York City's Grand Central Terminal include a minimum of $30 per hour for all workers.

"Supporting and retaining the best team members in the world enables us to deliver the best, most innovative, products and services for our customers," an Apple representative said in a statement. "This year as part of our annual performance review process, we're increasing our overall compensation budget."

Apple is joining fellow tech giants Google, Microsoft, and Amazon in increasing employee pay as they try to hold onto their best workers.

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While I firmly believe minimum wages need to rise, we need to fix inflation so our money is worth MORE rather than just raise wages. I do not take for granted for a second that I have the job that I do, but the amount of money I'm able to save each month has shrank considerably compared to even just last year.

I'm looking at the cost of living and my IRA, annuity and 401k have effectively shrank 20% due to devalued currency
 
These jobs are for high-school grads and college kids. Some people - for whatever reason - believe a job like this should give them raises in perpetuity until they reach a "living wage". The Free market doesn't work like that.

 
Dollar is much bigger now; 8% increase in just half of a year, that's a lot of increase in purchasing power, when the China lockdown induced supply issue and the pandemic are gone, things will get better real fast.
 
These jobs are for high-school grads and college kids. Some people - for whatever reason - believe a job like this should give them raises in perpetuity until they reach a "living wage". The Free market doesn't work like that.
The free market doesn't work, look what free trade with China did to jobs and the quality of avaliable products. It lead to what are essentially indentured servants in China where working conditions are so bad they literally have suicide nets around buildings.
 
These jobs are for high-school grads and college kids. Some people - for whatever reason - believe a job like this should give them raises in perpetuity until they reach a "living wage". The Free market doesn't work like that.
Well, they are getting a wage increase due to market forces.
 
Dollar is much bigger now; 8% increase in just half of a year, that's a lot of increase in purchasing power, when the China lockdown induced supply issue and the pandemic are gone, things will get better real fast.
Honest question, do you know what purchasing power means? Because the purchasing power of your average person has gone DOWN, not up. Costs have rises faster then wages, and your average individual can buy less today then 2 years ago.

These supply issues will not go away, nothing short of a crash will do that. JIT supply lines have 0 overprovisioning by design, to save money, and that means they have no extra capacity to recover with when the storm passes. Dramatically increasing supply will not lower prices if all the goods are stuck in the california docks. The trucker shortage isnt getting any better, and corona restrictions for sailors have not been repealed, meaning long wait times are here to stay for the forseeable future.
 
While I firmly believe minimum wages need to rise, we need to fix inflation so our money is worth MORE rather than just raise wages. I do not take for granted for a second that I have the job that I do, but the amount of money I'm able to save each month has shrank considerably compared to even just last year.

I'm looking at the cost of living and my IRA, annuity and 401k have effectively shrank 20% due to devalued currency

Unless you are retiring soon, a down stock market is good for your long term IRA/401K. This is the time to buy, the stock market will go back up.

As for inflation. Big part of the issue is Supply Chain. Don't expect everything to go back to they way it was. But Supply Chain is still a massive issue ATM, and is a huge question mark on how it will go in the upcoming future. The contractor world is nuts right now, every sector is having issues.

That being said, 22/hr while not much. Is not bad for such work. Good for them. Too bad the company itself sucks.
 
Unless you are retiring soon, a down stock market is good for your long term IRA/401K. This is the time to buy, the stock market will go back up.

As for inflation. Big part of the issue is Supply Chain. Don't expect everything to go back to they way it was. But Supply Chain is still a massive issue ATM, and is a huge question mark on how it will go in the upcoming future. The contractor world is nuts right now, every sector is having issues.

That being said, 22/hr while not much. Is not bad for such work. Good for them. Too bad the company itself sucks.
You can go pound salt as far as my retirement funds are concerned
 
Wow, I find it extraordinarily hard to believe that employees were upset over 20 dollars an hour for a retail position. That sounds pretty cushy to me. Minimum wage is still 7.50 dollars. And if you worked at a regular retail place in states where the minimum wage isn't higher than federal, you would likely find yourself bringing in up to $13 an hour, after a few raises.

Cry me a river! Apple should raise the wages of the underpaid workers in their foreign manufacturing plants before they raise the wages of US Apple retail workers.
 
You can go pound salt as far as my retirement funds are concerned
The Stock market and Inflation are not tied together. You own stock, not money. That stock never loses value like money does. And year to year gains over a 10 year time span pretty much evens out. So a bad year doesn't mean you are at a loss. Just look at the Performance of the S&P500 over 10y time.

S&P500 YTD as of today is down 15%. And the market in general has been primed for a correction. The past decade has simply been crazy. The last two years our 401K's have done 20-30%, a correction was going to happen regardless.

I'm big on the F.I.R.E train, working till 60 is not my cup of tea. It's just a shame I can't put more money into the investment train during this time. I'm easily spending 3-4x on food and fuel vs just two years ago. I could care less that I can buy any tech gadget for cheap.

Retirement planning is the single largest areas where young and old have trouble understanding. Most are under funded, and most people don't even check progress or know their current value. It really is a shame. Also best to also have index funds if retiring before 60 if something you'd aspire.

Inflation is not hurting your 401k right now. And unless you are pulling from it, this correction doesn't hurt you. Plain and simple. Just don't do stupid things like move fund around, like moving money into bonds thinking you are beating the system. These are the plays people make they screw them.
 
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The Stock market and Inflation are not tied together. You own stock, not money. That stock never loses value like money does. And year to year gains over a 10 year time span pretty much evens out. So a bad year doesn't mean you are at a loss. Just look at the Performance of the S&P500 over 10y time.

S&P500 YTD as of today is down 15%. And the market in general has been primed for a correction. The past decade has simply been crazy. The last two years our 401K's have done 20-30%, a correction was going to happen regardless.

I'm big on the F.I.R.E train, working till 60 is not my cup of tea. It's just a shame I can't put more money into the investment train during this time. I'm easily spending 3-4x on food and fuel vs just two years ago. I could care less that I can buy any tech gadget for cheap.

Retirement planning is the single largest areas where young and old have trouble understanding. Most are under funded, and most people don't even check progress or know their current value. It really is a shame. Also best to also have index funds if retiring before 60 if something you'd aspire.

Inflation is not hurting your 401k right now. And unless you are pulling from it, this correction doesn't hurt you. Plain and simple. Just don't do stupid things like move fund around, like moving money into bonds thinking you are beating the system. These are the plays people make they screw them.
I don't play around with my retirement funds. We have someone who managers our fund and it basically boils down to "high, medium or low" risk. I went with medium because I'm still young. While the funds themselves are doing okay, the money in them is essentially worth 80 cents on the dollars compared to last year. The stock market isn't at all time highs because the economy is doing great, it's at all time highs because the dollar is worth less and inflating stock prices.
 
I don't play around with my retirement funds. We have someone who managers our fund and it basically boils down to "high, medium or low" risk. I went with medium because I'm still young. While the funds themselves are doing okay, the money in them is essentially worth 80 cents on the dollars compared to last year. The stock market isn't at all time highs because the economy is doing great, it's at all time highs because the dollar is worth less and inflating stock prices.
Thats not how it works. But OK
 
I'm easily spending 3-4x on food and fuel vs just two years ago.
I'm sure you meant 3-4%, and I bet it's higher than that (especially with petroleum), but I get your point.
It's where we are right now. What hurts worse is the runaway. There are a lot of companies out there that we all know are not hurt by the current situation nearly as bad, but they raise their prices as high as they can anyway.
 
That being said, 22/hr while not much. Is not bad for such work. Good for them. Too bad the company itself sucks.
Well, $22.00 for retail sales is massively overpaid. Especially since the iSheep basically sell themselves the product..

Americans have pretty much become delusional to the point where they think that driving for Uber is a "career".(While looking down their noses at taxi drivers). And being a pizza delivery driver is considered a profession, when it used to be a job for high school kidz to get beer money.

There basically has to be a massive reality check about, "job growth in the service sector" actually mattering, along with pay raises therein doing nothing but contributing to inflation.

So, the iSheep walks into an Apple store and says, "I'll take one of those new iPhones", and the sales agent takes his or her credit card while wrapping it up. "BTW, do you know that doesn't come with a charger"? Oh, who am I kidding, that's got to be worth at least $22.00 an hour. :rolleyes:

But then again, if those prissy clowns are worth $22.00/hr, then a supermarket cashier has to be worth double that.
 
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Cry me a river! Apple should raise the wages of the underpaid workers in their foreign manufacturing plants before they raise the wages of US Apple retail workers.
But can you just imagine how much a new iPhone wold cost if they did?

Since Apple (I believe), has their own credit card, "paper or plastic", takes on an entirely new macabre and ironic meaning.
 
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The trucker shortage isnt getting any better,
No they're all just getting back from the mask and vax protest in Canada.

Funny story, CBS news interviewed one of those Trumpanderthals, who stated, "if they try to make us wear masks and get vaccinated, you have no idea how bad 'supply chain issues' are going to be".

You know, you just can't make this sh!t up, and neither did CBS..
 
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Americans have pretty much become delusional to the point where they think that driving for Uber is a "career".(While looking down their noses at taxi drivers). And being a pizza delivery driver is considered a profession, when it used to be a job for high school kidz to get beer money.
I made amazing money as a delivery driver, before I switched to my current profession(being a prince and all), it did a great job of fueling my cocaine habit. They kept Pedialyte under the cash register because everyone would come in hungover everyday, good times.
 
I'm sure you meant 3-4%, and I bet it's higher than that (especially with petroleum), but I get your point.
It's where we are right now. What hurts worse is the runaway. There are a lot of companies out there that we all know are not hurt by the current situation nearly as bad, but they raise their prices as high as they can anyway.
No 2-3x the amount of money spent per month. As a Diesel truck owner, my weekly fuel cost is about $50. We used to spend $150-200 for a two week supply of groceries. Now it is easy to spend $150 for just a week supply. Lets not forget this last winter we paid nearly 2x the cost of natural gas from last year... I'm thinking of replacing my two central air AC units with the heatpump versions, as natural gas is not the cheap fuel it once was. And who knows if it will go back down, not when they are making money hand over fist.

Well, $22.00 for retail sales is massively overpaid. Especially since the iSheep basically sell themselves the product..

Americans have pretty much become delusional to the point where they think that driving for Uber is a "career".(While looking down their noses at taxi drivers). And being a pizza delivery driver is considered a profession, when it used to be a job for high school kidz to get beer money.

There basically has to be a massive reality check about, "job growth in the service sector" actually mattering, along with pay raises therein doing nothing but contributing to inflation.

So, the iSheep walks into an Apple store and says, "I'll take one of those new iPhones", and the sales agent takes his or her credit card while wrapping it up. "BTW, do you know that doesn't come with a charger"? Oh, who am I kidding, that's got to be worth at least $22.00 an hour. :rolleyes:

But then again, if those prissy clowns are worth $22.00/hr, then a supermarket cashier has to be worth double that.
While I agree that the low income earners was never the big issue in this country, and that jacking their wage while not jacking the middle class wages it part of this whole issue. $12/hr isn't enough ATM. Even at 22/hr you are nothing more than a labor slave. You could work 50hr's are just have enough to simply be allowed to keep living. Min wage needed to be increased, but I don't know of a single entry level job that was paying those wages. $12/hr seemed like the way to go, now we have people starting out at $16-20/hr.

Hell me and the wife have a combine low 6 figure income. The less than $130k kind. It is pretty much paycheck to paycheck, and that is the reality of the world we live in. Even someone making a modest $50K, unless you already owned a home rent is out of control, housing prices are wild (I bought last year and it was crazy), food and gas is nuts, the only decent thing people are getting are cheap crappy TV's to drown out their nearly slave existence. If I'm scared to go to the doctor, in fear of what something simple is going to cost me. I'm sure they simply do not go.

Also lets be real, supermarket cashiers have been ran out of this world. You are the supermarket cashier now.

The problem starts at the top. So we shouldn't point fingers at the bottom blaming them.

Apple made 25 billion of net profit last quarter. A Billion is a crazy amount of money, especially compared to a single million. They don't invest any of the money back into country. At least companies like ATT spend some of the money in infrastructure improvements.

I work 50hr's a week, sometimes more. Anyone that knows the life of a Controls Engineer (Think Allen Bradley) knows it can be stressful at times. I understand people need middle class jobs, they are there. But not in the numbers needed. Sure the Trades are understaffed, but you can only have so many managers, etc.

The Tech industry as a whole is partly to blame as well. It is a bubble and it will pop. Money is being invested in the wrong things. America has a problem, and brainwashing is one of them.
 
No 2-3x the amount of money spent per month. As a Diesel truck owner, my weekly fuel cost is about $50. We used to spend $150-200 for a two week supply of groceries. Now it is easy to spend $150 for just a week supply.
Oh ok, I see your point with fuel. Yeah, I know I'm paying a little over $4 a gallon for gasoline now, but in mid 2020 I was paying $2.25 so nearly double.
My house is all electric, so I'm not up on NG prices much.
 
Also lets be real, supermarket cashiers have been ran out of this world. You are the supermarket cashier now.
Well, they still exist, but in much lower numbers. Self checkout lines lines were, (if memory serves), concessions made by their unions to jack up wages for those that remained.

So, you can still get in that long, long, line at Giant or Walmart, and have a living person bag up your goodies.

Those that remain, pack and sling bags all day, put up with an enormous amount of crap from the a**holes who insist on not using self checkout, and are responsible for any shortages in the register content.

So,(IMO), those that remain, are worth double what an Apple store employee is now receiving. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Keep in mind this observation is outside of what's going on with the value of the dollar, and has nothing to do with inflation. It's predicated on how much work an individual needs to do to even keep their job.
 
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