Apple bars staff from making a Slack channel about pay equity; Apple says it is because the channel is not work related, despite others on pets and jokes

The company's rules around Slack usage are not being evenly enforced — Apple has barred employees from creating a Slack channel to discuss pay equity.

The Verge 2021-09-01 Zoe Schiffer

Context & Ripple Effects

Apple’s restriction follows the shutdown of employee-run pay-equity surveys, extending the dispute from collecting compensation information to using internal communications channels. The contrasting tolerance for pet and joke channels makes the definition of “work-related” central to the company’s policy.

The episode sits early in a longer employee-relations arc: Apple later issued an internal affirmation of employees’ rights to discuss pay and working conditions, while the NLRB subsequently alleged that its Slack and social-media restrictions interfered with organizing rights.

First-order effects

Employees seeking to discuss pay equity lose a dedicated Slack venue, while Apple retains discretion to distinguish permitted informal channels from workplace-conditions discussions.
Apple’s uneven enforcement rationale gives employees and labor advocates a concrete policy decision to challenge alongside the earlier survey restrictions.

Second-order effects

The restriction shifts pay-equity discussion toward other internal or external channels, increasing the importance of Apple’s rules governing employee speech beyond Slack.
Apple’s leadership faces greater pressure to reconcile communications controls with employees’ ability to discuss compensation and workplace conditions, a tension later reflected in its internal memo.

Third-order effects

The linked coverage points to workplace collaboration tools becoming a labor-rights battleground: moderation rules that appear content-neutral can be assessed by whether they burden organizing or pay discussions.
As employee organizing disputes move through formal labor channels, companies’ governance of Slack-like workspaces may be treated less as ordinary IT policy and more as an employment-policy issue.

The trend: Internal workplace platforms are becoming contested infrastructure for employee pay transparency and organizing, not just company communications.

Discussion

@timnitgebru Timnit Gebru on x
Is this even legal??? https://twitter.com/...
@laurenceb Laurence Berland on x
Oh hey that makes rejecting the pay equity channel a straightforward violation of section 7 rights! Unless “fun-dogs” is a codeword for the upcoming ipad pet edition... https://twitter.com/...
@choco_bit Stella on x
1: #AppleToo is not the main purpose of this server. In fact, the server predates this hashtag by exactly 3 years! It *does* however have a section dedicated for discussion of stuff related to it.
@sarthakgh Sar Haribhakti on x
One very reliable way to get press coverage is to get together with 0.005% of your colleagues, write a letter, send some Slack messages, and leak the comms to The Verge. Echo chamber coverage across outlets will write all about it as if 50% of the co revolted
@choco_bit Stella on x
4: The goal of this place isnt to light a fire under Apples ass, it never was and it never will be. I simply provide a hub for employees, and they are free to use it however they like. Here is the servers official mission statement, which is publicly visible to all. https://twitt…
@carnage4life Dare Obasanjo on x
The thing about Apple banning multiple discussions about pay equity among employees is that it's a smoking gun because their HR must know the data makes them look bad. Most big techs are savvy about paying people equally at same level so this is wild. https://www.theverge.com/...
@timnitgebru Timnit Gebru on x
Correct but pay equity is not. @Apple not even pretending. This is exactly what I mean about how Apple operates with impunity. They don't even pretend. https://twitter.com/...
@choco_bit Stella on x
Apple employees: Help! There's some problems related to coworker harassment! People Team: https://twitter.com/...
@carnage4life Dare Obasanjo on x
The typical pay equity issue at FAAMNG is promotion velocity where junior ranks are full of underrepresented folks while leadership leans toward particular demographics. That Apple is scared of junior folks sharing their salaries is quite telling.
@pinboard @pinboard on x
The most likely outcome of tech workers at Apple being too inert to even create their own Slack instance (it's free!) is that it will doom the dad jokes and fun dogs slack channels at the company, while affecting pay disparities not a whit. https://twitter.com/...
@cherthedev @cherthedev on x
Interesting that as soon as I reported the doxxing and the parent abusive post to my managers it was deleted within hours.
@tha_rami Rami Ismail on x
Corporations would be funny in how absurd they are if they weren't so influential on people's lives & well-being. https://www.theverge.com/...
@timnitgebru Timnit Gebru on x
Basically saying that pay transparency and equity isn't part of Apple's mission? Thanks for letting us know. https://twitter.com/...
@timnitgebru Timnit Gebru on x
Knowing what type of company @Apple is, I was still surprised to see HR spell out you can't talk about wages on company Slack. That they have zero regard for the law shouldn't have surprised me even the slightest. Not sure why I was surprised that they didn't even try to pretend.…
@choco_bit Stella on x
Since I've gotten a few questions/comments about my server, I'd like to address a few this way in the form of replies under this messages. This goes out to anyone curious, as well as any reporters/journalists that follow me:
@carnage4life Dare Obasanjo on x
Apple's usage of Slack is turning into the worst case scenario of the impact of technology adoption on company culture.
@braydenk Brayden King on x
Companies are ok with employee activism, until they're not https://twitter.com/...
@josheidelson Josh Eidelson on x
In 2019, a GOP NLRB majority ruled that companies can prohibit employees from using the firm's email and IT for organizing (https://www.bloomberg.com/...). It's one of the precedents Biden appointees have signaled interest in overturning. Last weekend, NLRB became majority-Democr…
@tim_stevens Tim Stevens on x
This is how we lose our Slack channels on pets and jokes, people. https://twitter.com/...
@rebekahlsanders Rebekah Sanders on x
Most corporations will do anything to stop employees from talking about pay unfairness. But remember - discussing your salary with your coworkers is your legal right. https://twitter.com/...
@da_banks David A Banks on x
NOT NEW: Your boss isn't your friend and wants to pay you as little as possible. https://twitter.com/...
@seyiakiwowo @seyiakiwowo on x
If you're scared of employees talking about something you should probably stop doing that something rather than stopping a slack channel. It makes obvious you're doing something bad and they'll still chat on WhatsApp about you. https://twitter.com/...
@johnbattelle John Battelle on x
Apple's commitment to encrypted communications will clearly come in handy as employees form private iMessage groups, right?! https://twitter.com/...
@pinboard @pinboard on x
I've said it a lot, but it would only take about 100 employees to shut down large parts of Google. How this threat was defused by shunting employee anger into harmless channels, including a cosplay “union” whose sole achievement was a NYT op-ed, is a fascinating object lesson
@pinboard @pinboard on x
It's a college student mentality, where the way to succeed is performative protest eventually leading to administrative redress of grievances. These employees identify so deeply with their company that an effective, adversarial approach to using their latent power is unimaginable
@pinboard @pinboard on x
The lowest organizational hurdle to clear in workplace organizing is using communication channels not visible to management, yet it's amazing how almost no tech workers bother with this step. Reminds me of when Googlers tried to book a conference room to listen to a union rep. ht…
@timnitgebru Timnit Gebru on x
What is the @NLRB doing? Sitting and watching this? Google's “punishment” as part of their settlement was to display something for 1 year (not even indefinitely) that said employers have a legal right to discuss these issues. https://twitter.com/...
@zoeschiffer Zoë Schiffer on x
“Although this request is aligned with Apple's commitment to pay equity, it doesn't meet the requirement for Slack Terms of Use. Slack channels are provided to conduct Apple business & must advance the work, deliverables, or mission or Apple departments & teams.” 2/
@mapadelphia Sarah Cordivano on x
Note to other corporates... Do not ban your employees from creating a pay equity slack. It reflects poorly on you. https://twitter.com/...
@zoeschiffer Zoë Schiffer on x
[Thread] Apple bars staff from making a Slack channel about pay equity; Apple says it's because it's not work related, despite other channels on pets and jokes

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