Apple Employees Organize #AppleToo Movement Against Workplace Harassment, Discrimination, and More

A group of Apple employees have organized an “#AppleToo” movement in order to collect stories from workers at all levels regarding workplace issues.

A group of current and former Apple employees are calling on their colleagues to publicly share stories of discrimination, harassment and retaliation they experienced while working at the company, explains a new report from Protocol. The call to action went up on Monday when the collective started a Twitter account called Apple Workers.

The group explains the overarching problems on their website:

For too long, Apple has evaded public scrutiny. The truth is that for many Apple workers — a reality faced disproportionately by our Black, Indigenous, and other colleagues from minoritized racial, gender, and historically marginalized groups of people — the culture of secrecy creates an opaque, intimidating fortress. When we press for accountability and redress to the persistent injustices we witness or experience in our workplace, we are faced with a pattern of isolation, degradation, and gaslighting.

No more. We’ve exhausted all internal avenues. We’ve talked with our leadership. We’ve gone to the People team. We’ve escalated through Business Conduct. Nothing has changed.

Cher Scarlett, an AppleToo organizer and engineer at the company for the past 18 months, explained that the site had received more than 300 submissions in its first 48 hours. The majority of those stories came from the company’s retail staff, Scarlett said.

“Literally hundreds of people have come to me. I can’t even keep track anymore of the number of people who’ve shared their stories with me. These are people’s lives. They are human beings,” she said. “What else do you do when hundreds of people you don’t know are coming to you with all of these different issues?”

Apple workers are coming together to talk openly about issues we want addressed in our workplace.

Discrimination, harassment, and retaliation happen at #AppleToo.

If you work or worked for Apple, or a third party, connect with us at https://t.co/sQMQ22Thvf.

— Apple Workers #AppleToo (@AppleLaborers) August 23, 2021

As of now, the organizers are helping employees file stories with the California Department of Fair Housing and Employment and the Federal Equal Opportunity Employment Commission. The organizers will share more details on the scenario starting today.

The AppleToo website launch comes amid a wave of employee activism at Silicon Valley companies.

The campaign debuted in the same week that the “Thanksgiving Four,” a band of activist ex-Googlers fired for allegedly leaking confidential information, met their former employer in court. At the same time, online shopping giant Amazon learned it could face a second vote on unionization among warehouse workers.