A U.S. labor board issued a complaint accusing Apple of violating employees' rights to organize and advocate for better working conditions by maintaining a series of unlawful workplace rules.
The National Labor Relations Board in the complaint announced late on Monday claims Apple required employees nationwide to sign illegal confidentiality, non-disclosure, and non-compete agreements and imposed overly broad misconduct and social media policies.
The complaint accuses Apple of "interfering with, restraining, and coercing employees in the exercise of" their rights under federal labor law.
Apple, in a statement provided by a spokesperson, said it has always respected its employees' rights to discuss wages, hours and working conditions, which is reflected in its employment policies.
"We strongly disagree with these claims and will continue to share the facts at the hearing," the company said.
If Apple does not settle the case, it will be heard by an administrative judge beginning in January. The agency is seeking to require Apple to rescind the allegedly unlawful rules and notify its entire U.S. workforce of their legal rights.
Administrative judges' decisions can be reviewed by the five-member labor board, whose rulings can be appealed to federal appeals courts.
The complaint stems from charges filed against Apple in 2021 by Ashley Gjovik, a former senior engineering manager at the company. Gjovik said various Apple rules, including those relating to confidentiality and social media use, deter employees from discussing issues such as pay equity and sex discrimination with each other and the media.
Gjovik also filed a lawsuit in California federal court in May accusing Apple of illegally retaliating against her for filing the NLRB complaints and attempting to organize other workers. Apple has denied wrongdoing and has moved to dismiss the case.
The company is facing at least two other pending NLRB cases claiming it fired an employee at its Cupertino, California headquarters for criticizing managers and illegally interfered with a union campaign at a retail store in Atlanta. The company has denied wrongdoing.
The NLRB in May ruled that the manager of an Apple store in Manhattan unlawfully interrogated an employee about his support for a union. Two Apple stores in the U.S. have unionized since 2022, and unions are working to organize several other locations.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board has said more than 40 foreign operators of Boeing 737 airplanes may be using planes with rudder components that could pose safety risks, though it did not identify which airlines could be affected.
The NTSB on Thursday issued urgent safety recommendations about the potential for a jammed rudder control system on some 737 airplanes after a February incident involving a United Airlines flight.
On Monday, the agency said 271 impacted parts may be installed on aircraft in service operated by at least 40 foreign air carriers and 16 may still be installed on U.S.-registered aircraft and up to 75 may have been used in aftermarket installation.
However, the NTSB and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration did not identify which carriers may be using the parts. Several foreign carriers did not respond to Reuters' queries about their fleet.
Boeing, which declined to comment on Monday, said last week it had informed affected 737 operators of a "potential condition with the rudder rollout guidance actuator" in August, in what is known as a Multi Operator Message.
However, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said in a letter to Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Mike Whitaker that they were concerned "of the possibility that other airlines are unaware of the presence of these actuators on their 737 airplanes."
A spokesperson for Japan's All Nippon Airways, which operates 39 Boeing 737-NG planes, said on Tuesday "as a precaution, we are in the preparatory stages of removing the parts that the NTSB pointed out," adding it had no impact on its operations. It is assessing how many of its planes are impacted, the person said.
Japan Airlines, which operates 62 Boeing 737-800 planes, said none of its 737 planes use the impacted parts, according to a spokesperson, and a China Airlines spokesperson also said it was not affected.
A spokesperson for Ryanair, one of Boeing's biggest customers, also said there was no impact from the component issue.
The NTSB also disclosed on Monday that it had learned two foreign operators suffered similar incidents in 2019 involving rollout guidance actuators.
The issue is the latest setback for Boeing, which has faced a series of safety questions after a mid-air emergency in January involving a new Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 missing four key bolts. Shares were down 1.5% in premarket action Tuesday.
The NTSB is investigating an incident in February in which the rudder pedals on a United 737 MAX 8 were "stuck" in the neutral position during a landing at Newark. There were no injuries to the 161 passengers and crew.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) said on Tuesday it was aware of the NTSB report. "EASA is in close contact with the FAA and will take action as needed," a spokesperson said.
Homendy, who spoke to Whitaker about the problem last week, said she was concerned the FAA "did not take this issue more seriously until we issued our urgent safety recommendation report."
The FAA said it was taking the NTSB recommendations seriously and it was scheduled to do additional simulator testing in October.
United said last week the rudder control parts at issue were in use in only nine of its 737 aircraft originally built for other airlines and the components were all removed earlier this year.
The NTSB on Monday criticized Boeing for failing to inform United the 737s it received were equipped with actuators "mechanically connected to the rudder control system" and expressed concerns other airlines were unaware of their presence.
"Flight crews may not know what to expect if the rollout guidance actuator fails at low altitude or during landing," the NTSB said, calling the failure "unacceptable."
European automakers are likely to be the hardest hit by the dockworkers' strike on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, but a longer strike could have wider repercussions for the industry if it impacts suppliers, analysts say.
Dock workers began their first large-scale strike in nearly 50 years this morning, blocking the flow of about half of domestic shipping.
The International Longshoremen's Association union, which represents 45,000 dock workers, is negotiating with the United States Maritime Alliance (Usmx) employers' association on a new six-year contract.
"A lot of car shipping happens on the East Coast, especially at the Port of Baltimore," said Steve Hughes, Ceo of Hcs International, which advises the auto industry on shipping issues. "If (the strike) becomes a matter of weeks, it will be a tragedy."
In the past 12 months, striking ports have handled $37.8 billion worth of vehicle imports, Hughes said. And that's not including auto parts, which are used for both vehicle manufacturing and the aftermarket, he added.
"If you look at a GM car, you will find all kinds of European and Asian parts inside it," Hughes said.
The Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association, a trade association of automotive suppliers, called on President Joe Biden and his administration to force both sides back to the negotiating table.
A shortage of parts could lead some automakers to reduce vehicle production, although analysts say some may instead quietly welcome this eventuality. Stellantis , for example, has very high vehicle inventories.
Dan Levy, an analyst at Barclays, said that 70 percent of auto parts imports into the United States are through the ports affected by the strike, although companies have probably built up some stockpiles since the risk of the strike had been visible for some time. If automakers were forced to get parts by air, costs could rise.
"This is all very, very inflationary," Hughes said.
European automakers, many of which rely on the striking ports, would suffer the most, Levy wrote in a research note.
"European automakers rely heavily on Baltimore for imports and Southeastern ports (e.g., Charleston) for exports because most of their U.S. production is in this region," he said.
Israel said intense fighting erupted with Hezbollah in south Lebanon after its paratroops and commandos launched raids there, ahead of a widely expected ground incursion and after devastating airstrikes against Hezbollah’s leadership.
The Israeli military said the operations in Lebanon began Monday night and involved the elite 98th Division, which was deployed to the northern front two weeks ago from Gaza, where it had been fighting against Hamas for months.
It said its air force and artillery supported ground troops engaged in “limited, localized, and targeted ground raids” against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon villages that posed “an immediate threat to Israeli communities in northern Israel.”
Israel Defense Forces said the operations in Lebanon began on Monday night.@IDF/X
Israel has dealt heavy blows to Hezbollah, Iran’s most powerful Middle East proxy, assassinating its top leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in Beirut last week, eliminating a towering figure who turned it into Lebanon’s top military and political force.
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Despite its biggest successes against Hezbollah in decades, Israel has indicated it is primed for a full-fledged invasion of Lebanon with the stated aim of enabling thousands of its citizens who fled Hezbollah rockets to safely return to their communities near the northern border.
A Lebanese security source told Reuters that Israeli units had crossed into Lebanon overnight for reconnaissance and probing operations.
Lebanese troops also pulled back from positions along the border, the source added.
A Lebanese army spokesperson did not confirm or deny the movement.
The IDF said members of the elite 98th Division, which was deployed to the northern front two weeks ago from Gaza, where it had been fighting against Hamas for months, were sent into Lebanon.@IDF/X
Lebanon’s army has historically stayed on the sidelines of major conflicts with Israel, and in the last year of hostilities has not fired on the Israeli military.
The operation in Lebanon represents an escalation of the conflict in the Middle East between Israel and Iran-backed terrorists that now threatens to suck in the US and Iran.
Local residents in the Lebanese border town of Aita al-Shaab reported heavy shelling and the sound of helicopters and drones overhead.
A picture taken from northern Israel, along the border with southern Lebanon, on Sept. 30, 2024, shows a fire following Israeli bombardment on an area of south LebanonAFP via Getty Images
Flares were repeatedly launched over the Lebanese border town of Rmeish, lighting up the night sky.
Lebanon’s armed group Hezbollah said Tuesday it had targeted Israeli troops across the border in Metula twice with artillery and rocket fire but made no mention of Israel’s launch of ground operations into Lebanon.
An Israeli strike in Lebanon early Tuesday targeted Mounir Maqdah, commander of the Lebanese branch of the Palestinian Fatah movement’s military wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, according to two Palestinian security officials.
An Israeli tank is transported amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, in northern Israel, on Oct. 1, 2024.REUTERS
The strike hit a building in the crowded Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp near the southern city of Sidon, the sources said.
It marked the first strike on Lebanon’s largest Palestinian camp since cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel broke out nearly a year ago.
In Syria, three civilians were killed and nine others injured in an Israeli airstrike on the capital, Damascus, Syrian state media said Tuesday, citing a military source.
Israel’s military said it does not comment on foreign media reports.
Israel has been carrying out strikes against Iran-linked targets in Syria for years but has ramped up raids since the Palestinian terror group Hamas attacked Israel’s southern territory on Oct. 7, 2023.
Hamas killed 1,200 people and took about 250 hostage in its assault on Israel, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel in response launched a massive assault on Hamas in Gaza, reducing most of the Palestinian territory to rubble, displacing most of its 2.3 million people and killing more than 41,300 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry.
Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike that hit a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, on Oct. 1, 2024.AP
Strikes on Beirut
Israel’s operations in Lebanon follow its deadly detonation of booby-trapped Hezbollah pagers, two weeks of airstrikes, and its killing on Friday of Nasrallah.
The intensive airstrikes have eliminated several Hezbollah commanders but also killed about 1,000 civilians and forced 1 million to flee their homes, according to the Lebanese government.
Overnight, strikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs, a security source said.
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a neighborhood in Beirut’s southern suburbs early on Oct. 1, 2024.AFP via Getty Images
A Reuters reporter witnessed a flash of light and a series of loud blasts about an hour after the Israeli military warned residents to evacuate areas near buildings that it said contained Hezbollah infrastructure south of the capital.
In the past 24 hours, at least 95 people had been killed and 172 wounded in Israeli strikes on Lebanon’s southern regions, the eastern Bekaa Valley, and Beirut, Lebanon’s health ministry said early Tuesday.
Hezbollah’s deputy leader Naim Qassem on Monday said “the resistance forces are ready for a ground engagement,” adding that Hezbollah continued to fire rockets as deep as 93 miles into Israeli territory.
The White House and the US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Israel’s ground operations in Lebanon, but on Monday, US President Biden had called for a cease-fire.
