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Hundreds of AT&T Wireless Workers and Supporters Plan To Protest at iPhone 8 Launch at Apple HQ
Hundreds of AT&T wireless workers and members of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) will protest outside the launch of the iPhone 8 at Apple HQ on Tuesday, we were told. "Marking the start of a critical sales period that's expected to bring in billions for the telecom giant, workers are calling out AT&T's pay cuts for its retail employees and the company's rampant outsourcing and offshoring that undermine their job security and ability to provide quality customer service," the Communications Workers of America said in a press statement. Over the years, AT&T has increasingly handed over the operations of its retail operations to third-party dealers that now represent over 60 percent of all AT&T branded stores. On top of this, AT&T retail employees allege that they are seeing their pay decline by thousands of dollars because the company manipulates their commission structure.
So, AT&T employees are protesting AT&T's business practices. Nothing they're protesting has anything to do with the iPhone 8 or Apple at large. Nonetheless, they're protesting at the launch of the new iPhone, simply because they know that places like Slashdot can't resist posting clickbait articles that mention Apple in the headline, thus bringing attention to their cause, despite the fact that nothing they're doing has anything to do with Apple.
Even worse, it looks like Slashdot is "breaking" this news, since I don't see a link or article mentioned anywhere, so that means that Slashdot is solely responsible for authoring the headline. Shame on you.
It's simple marketing, really. AT&T is treating their employees just like they treat their customers: not listening to them. Apple is likely to enact some corporate NIMBY-ism and tell AT&T to deal with it the eyesore of a protest.
The protesters get publicity. A protest of the iPhone launch will get a LOT more press than protesting outside of some random AT&T store. Even if Apple does nothing, the story still reached a greater audience this way and we're now aware of the situation.
The protest hasn't even happened yet and this strategy is paying dividends. Looks like a 100% win so far.
Work sucked, until it became unemployment, when it became slightly more tolerable. -Tet
"If a company like AT&T treats you poorly then QUIT! Go work for another company that pays you better and treats you well!"
People love to say this whenever workers try to claw back some power. The honest truth is that all employers treat people poorly to some degree. And they love it when more people say that anyone who complains about it should quit, because it just makes their job easier. Compared to today, the 50s and 60s were a golden age of employment because there was a balance in the employer/employee relationship, things were stable, and employers grudgingly agreed to allow workers to follow a career path.
Without some universal check on employers' power, employers will just cut and squeeze until there's nothing left to squeeze. They'd love to see everyone working for minimum wage...no wait, let's get rid of the minimum wage...no wait, let's just hire everyone as an independent contractor and offshore everything that can be offshored to TCS or Wipro or Accenture. That universal check would be a union or trade organization. Otherwise, if you try to be the nice employer and offer a few concessions, the other employers will just get more evil in response and drive you out of business.