Apple is encouraging employees to get their COVID-19 vaccination by offering paid time off for appointments and paid sick leave for those experiencing vaccine side effects, Bloomberg News reports, citing “people with knowledge of the matter.”
Mark Gurman for Bloomberg News:
The Cupertino, California-based technology giant also told staff in recent weeks that it does not have access to vaccines and is not providing shots itself to workers, the people said.
Since the pandemic began to spread last year, Apple has offered paid time off to those with COVID-19 symptoms. Many corporate employees are still working from home, but the company has gradually brought back retail staff as Apple stores across the U.S. have reopened.
For its corporate offices, Apple is planning to have more staff return as early as June, Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook told employees in a town hall meeting at the end of 2020… Apple has been offering on-site COVID-19 testing for employees returning to its offices and has also been providing mail-in testing kits for both retail and corporate workers.
MacDailyNews Note: Apple Maps now displays COVID-19 vaccination locations. The CDC’s list of COVID-19 vaccines is here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
This story reminds me of the issue of “corporate responsibility” that arose in April 2020, at the initial peak of the Covid-19 outbreak. There was a Ralphs grocery store in Hollywood (L.A.) that had 20 workers come down with Covid. Employees asked for Ralphs corporate to provide them with Covid tests, and provide better protective gear (Keep in mind that Ralphs was raking in tens of millions of dollars in additional revenue from record grocery sales at the time). The company refused to arrange for testing. So employees stood in front of the store with signs that said things like, “This store has 20 employees sick with Covid” . . . I asked a friend who lived in the neighborhood, and he said, “There is no way in hell I’m going into that store” . . . So whether it was from loss of sales, public embarrassment on the news, or a sudden sense of corporate responsibility, Ralphs finally stepped up and offered Covid tests to all of their employees (at all of their stores) . . . I know there are readers on this website who are not fans of Unions, but when you see employees treated like this, when corporations have no concern for the well-being of their employees (while they make record profits), one can see how these union organizing efforts arise.
Yes, fans of this site are no fans of unions but only when they are worker unions; Many are instead devoted fans of corporate unions, GMA, the Grocery Manufacturers Association is just one example of the many corporate union that incessantly combat either workers or worker unions to do just what you point out.
And a holiday, paid or unpaid, should be instituted for national elections.