Apple is apparently planning to make employee schedules at retail locations more flexible in an attempt to improve working conditions.
Accord to Bloomberg, the changes come as employees as some Apple Store locations have been working toward unionization.
Employees will no longer be scheduled to work more than five days in a row, down from six days in a row, though there could be exemptions during holidays and new product launches, and full-time employees will be eligible for a dedicated weekend day off for each six month period that they work.
Workers stated that Apple plans to implement the scheduling changes in the coming months, which will be in addition to new benefits introduced in February. The changes from will include an increase in the number of available paid sick days, more vacation days, and upped parental leave.
Apple retail locations in Washington State, New York, Maryland, and Atlanta have taken steps toward unionization with employees asking for higher pay, more vacation time, better retirement options, and other benefits, but none of these efforts have been successful to date.
Apple head of retail Deirdre O’Brien in May stated on video that “It is your right to join a union – and it is equally your right not to join a union,” O’Brien said in the video. She said that employees should “consult a wide range of people and sources” to have a full understanding of what it would mean to “work at Apple under a collective bargaining agreement.”
O’Brien said that a union would make it more difficult for Apple to implement “immediate, widespread changes,” and it could “make it harder for [Apple] to act swiftly to address things” that employees bring up.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.