Apple Store employees have been using Android phones to help keep their unionizing efforts secret, report says

 Isobel Asher Hamilton

Apple Store employees are exploring unionization, The Washington Post reported. 

Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuter

Some Apple Store employees have used Android phones to eliminate the possibility that the company could snoop on them as they explore unionization, The Washington Post reported.

To avoid detection, staff exploring unionization have held secret meetings, communicated using encrypted messaging, and sometimes used Android phones rather than iPhones to avoid any possibility of snooping by Apple, The Post said, citing anonymous sources familiar with union drives at multiple Apple Stores in the US.

Mobile operating system Android is Google's competitor to Apple's iOS.

The Post said that staff from at least two US Apple Stores were close to filing unionization paperwork with the National Labor Relations Board, and at least six other US stores were in earlier stages of the process.