Staff at two French Apple retail stores are threatening to strike on Friday, the iPhone 5’s official launch day. Staff members are reportedly striking over pay and a few other demands because they are unhappy with Apple’s salary grid and the disparity in pay for the same jobs.
Mac Generation reports that the staff members are demanding pay raises, a water fountain and lunch vouchers. The Apple Store is located in an expensive area of Paris, which explains the request for lunch vouchers.
Apple staff members at these locations are wearing a bracelet with the word ‘Believe’ on it in protest. According to reports, discussions and negotiations began in July between workers and management, which has now led to the Paris store staff threatening to strike.
With the high cost of living in Paris, a pay raise would mean that Parisian workers are asking for higher pay than other Apple Store staff. There are a total of 13 Apple Stores in the country and two of them are located in Paris.
This could make for a very bad Friday for many french Apple fans who decided to wait to buy the iPhone 5 in store, rather than pre-order it online, when it officially launches on Friday. If Apple doesn’t fix this situation before Friday, two Apple retail stores will miss out on what could very possibly be Apple’s busiest retail day in the history of the company. Presumably, though, Apple will want to fix this situation before it comes to a full-on strike.
Source: Mac Generation and Macworld UK via Cult of Mac
Image Credit: Mac Generation
