San Jose Mercury News:
Apple has opened the door for construction workers with recent felonies on their records to help build its new campus.
The tech giant has lifted a requirement that people who had been convicted of felonies within the past seven years could not work on the massive Cupertino construction project, Apple spokesman Josh Rosenstock told this newspaper Thursday. After the policy came to light this week, Apple came under fire from union leaders and advocates, who say construction jobs are a key source of work for felons trying to transition back into society.
I’m glad they did this. Now I can apply for a job on the Apple Campus 2 construction crew.
I’ve been wavering between amused and annoyed at Gruber’s commentary around this. Must be nice to be so white-bread that a single mistake can’t essentially remove you from the employment market.
First you’ll have to join the local union. That will actually be harder.
Along with John’s commentary on the lack of minorities in tech, I bet few have been on the wrong side of the law. So it looks like I’ve got that base covered, too. 🙂
no one is judging the felons. the question is whether its newsworthy. the fact that our fed govt employs contractors who do this for their projects doesnt seem to be a major news story — why then with apple?
On the one hand, you’re absolutely correct in that – as with most stories involving Apple and social issues – “Apple” itself has almost nothing to do with the story and is probably following industry practice in any case.
On the other hand, the reaction to this story by certain members of the tech elite aptly illustrates the way in which they are completely divorced from social issues that don’t involve how many women are working at a given startup.
Whoa wait a minute. You lost me when you did exactly what you claim Gruber did. Diversity in all jobs, including construction and technology start ups, is important and we don’t concentrate on that enough. Let’s not try to belittle women in technology in order to promote employment of those who deserve a second chance.
As a Nerd, I’m always looking for perspective, and asking why this is news may seem “heartless” but for someone who doesn’t have perspective yet, it’s exactly the right question to ask. The fact that it’s not industry practice, but it is for the US government, gives me perspective as to how wrong this is. It actually made me more sympathetic to those not hired, not less, which is a good thing.
Also didn’t Gruber say yesterday “This is exactly as it should be”?
I think Grubers point was that Apple was being targeted for something that was common practice, not that the practice itself was right. And then he ended it all by saying it was good that Apple rescinded. You’re misinterpreting what he said. I didn’t see him support the practice one bit or think that felons didn’t deserve a second chance.