Apple Raises Pay for Retail Workers

Hundreds of fast-food employees in Detroit walked off the job on Friday, temporarily shuttering a handful of outlets as part of a growing U.S. worker movement that is demanding higher wages for flipping burgers and operating fryers.

Opponents of a minimum wage increase imagine an economic reality very different from the one millions of American workers experience.

Apple (AAPL) is widely referenced as one of the greatest American companies. Yet, the company's retail stores appear to be wrestling with margin crimping challenges resulting from inconsistent leadership.

JCPenney is bringing back commissioned pay for some of its workers, employees at the company tell us. The company announced the change during a meeting with salon stylists Monday.

The number of retailers filing for bankruptcy has continued to mount over the past three years, rising 6% last year compared with 2011 and up 18% on 2010, reports The Guardian. Thousands of shop workers lost their jobs last year as a series of high street names collapsed into administration, battered by a combination of weak demand and escalating costs. Comet, JJB Sports and Blacks were just a few of the 194 retail failures over the year.

Following a 2012 episode in which a worker died after stealing a bottle of windshield washer fluid and drinking it over the course of two days — including on the job — the company that runs Ontario’s Beer Stores was fined $218,000 for what regulators deemed was a workplace safety violation. “Brewers Retail Inc. pleaded guilty to failing to acquaint a worker with a hazard in the handling, storage or use of a liquid chemical agent,” read a Friday afternoon statement by the Ontario Ministry of Labour.