Apple's Australian Workers Go on Christmas Strike Over Pay | News

Apple workers in Australia have begun strike action, demanding better working conditions and wages, a move that could dent sales of the tech giant during the peak Christmas season.

Workers represented by Australia's Retail and Fast Food Workers Union (RAFFWU) had earlier this month announced a walkout from Apple's retail outlets nationwide at 3pm local time (04:00 GMT) on December 23, with plans to stay away throughout Christmas Eve.

The launch of the strike on Friday comes in the wake of the tech giant facing disruption at its flagship iPhone plant in China owing to rare workers' protests against severe COVID rules in the country and poor handling of the situation at the factory.

Earlier in June, Apple workers in Maryland, United States, became the first retail employees of the tech giant to unionize in the country as workers continued to criticize the company's working conditions.

RAFFWU, which is at the forefront of the strike, claims an eight-year-old agreement denies workers “weekends, consecutive days off, set rosters, set days of work, 12-hour breaks between shifts, overtime rates,” among others.

“The 2014 agreement is one such agreement which pushed workers below the legal minimum,” the union alleged, demanding the iPhone maker immediately return to the table and negotiate a fair agreement.

Apple declined a Reuters request for comment.