When tech giant Apple first embarked on building its Apple Campus 2, a $5 billion “spaceship” in Cupertino, it made a commitment to meeting certain labor standards in exchange for the state of California’s help in expediting the project. Those standards included Apple ensuring that onsite construction workers would be paid the prevailing union wage.

But Apple did not hold up its side of the bargain. At its new campus, subcontractor Preston Pipelines has been paying two dozen workers approximately half the wages they should be entitled to under Apple’s commitment to California. When confronted about this exploitation of workers at the hands of Preston Pipelines on its own property, Apple washed its hands of the matter.

It’s disappointing, but not terribly shocking, that the very company that refused to accept responsibility for the exploitation of Chinese workers would also refuse to accept any culpability for the exploitation of American workers. When investigations uncovered that Apple’s Chinese manufacturing partner Foxconn Technology was forcing its employees to work excessive overtime in unsafe and sometimes deadly factories, Apple brushed it off as the supplier’s problem. Now Apple is dismissing the fact that its subcontractor, Preston Pipelines, continues to cheat its workers of their rightful wages on Apple’s own property.

As a result, UA Local Union 393 led a picket action at the Apple Campus 2 job site to shine a light on Preston Pipelines’ continued exploitation of its construction workers that affects and erodes our own wages and working conditions. More than 200 building trades workers participated in our action to expose Preston Pipelines’ greed and wage theft practices at one of the highest profile construction projects in the country. This job employs hundreds of 393 members, but we couldn’t let Apple’s corporate greed go unchecked. We had to draw attention to the issue. We knew that we had to speak up for our brothers and sisters or no one else would.

For too long, Silicon Valley has gone out of its way to bow down to every whim of its resident tech giants. Cupertino has bet its future on the spaceship. The sleepy suburb hopes that thousands of high-tech workers will be a shot of economic vitality, thanks to real estate investors and developers racing to cash in on the next crop of restaurants, bars, and stores catering to Apple employees.

Apple and its hangers-on are padding their own bottom lines on the sweat-soaked backs of working people. At this rate, the construction workers who are building this shiny glass-and-steel future won’t be able to afford to buy a house or even a sandwich next to these tech moguls. Our members – and working class people, in general, whether lucky enough to be in a union or otherwise – are seeing themselves and their families pushed out of the very communities they grew up in as the divide between the haves and the have-nots continues to widen.

That is why it is critical we stand up and be willing to fight. To show we are not expendable cogs to be used up and thrown away. These are our cities. These are our communities. And we are more than just the hired help. We are the Cub Scout leaders. The soccer coaches. The taxpayers. We live here. We work here. The money missing from our paychecks each month is money that won’t go back into neighborhood businesses and services. This exploitation cuts across our communities and spills into all aspects of our economy. We deserve better. We demand better.

Bill Guthrie
Business Manager
UA Local Union 393