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Apple Tells Siri Quality Control Team to Move to Texas or Leave the Company

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Women, LGBTQ+ people, and Racial Minorities Most Affected
Screenshot of Siri website

via Apple’s Siri Website

Designed by Apple in California. It sits on just about every Apple device somewhere. Apple was born in California. The culture of the state, specifically Silicon Valley, is how Apple grew from a garage to one of the most valuable companies in the world. The influx of travelers, immigrants, outcasts, and scholars helped make California a diverse state, with laws that protected the downtrodden and forgotten.

Apple’s Siri quality control team, officially called the Data Operations Annotations team, works all over the world. There are offices in China, India, Ireland, Spain, as well as two in the United States. One in San Diego, California, and one in Austin Texas.

With only a few weeks notice, Apple has asked their employees on the Data Operations Annotations team to move to Austin Texas, starting by the end of January. While they will have until the end of February to finalize their decision, Apple wants the move to begin as soon as possible.

Few people want to move for their company. If the job is lucrative and the area is as well, it can be an easier decision. However, this is not the case. Apple is asking people to move from a state that has enshrined the rights of the very out groups that Texas bullies. Texas law would strip bodily autonomy from women, threaten the rights and healthcare of LGBTQ+ people, and inflict racism on racial minorities. Texas isn’t a welcoming state, and while few people would want to move for their work, for people in marginalized groups, they don’t actually have a choice. Leave Apple or give up their rights and safety.

I doubt Apple put much thought into that, even though Tim Cook assures reporters this is a concern of his. Despite Tim Cook’s instance that Apple’s values aren’t “virtue signaling,” his company sent a clear message to marginalized groups: endanger yourself or leave Apple.

Terms of the Deal

Apple is trying to improve Siri. Siri was the first mobile assistant on the scene with the iPhone 4s, however, it quickly became the last place digital assistant. Still, there are those working tirelessly at Apple to not only help improve Siri but also Apple’s future AI endeavors. They receive anonymous audio recordings from users who have not opted out of data collection and tag them for issues, clarity, context, and other items that help identify issues as well as ways to improve Apple’s AI. This kind of tagging is vital in AI model generation.

Apple gave these employees an ultimatum. They want to begin moving employees from the San Diego office to an office in Austin, Texas, buy the end of January. They’re giving employees until the end of February to make their decision. If they do not want to move to Texas, their last day will be on April 26th. They’ll only get four weeks of severance, with an additional week for every year they’ve been with Apple. They’ll also get six months of health insurance, which likely comes through COBRA reimbursement. A spokesperson for Apple claimed the move was to bring the “Data Operations Annotations team in the US together at our campus in Austin, where a majority of the team is already based.”

Apple says they’re still invested in San Diego, and won’t be closing down the office there for other teams.

For Some, A Heavier Cost Than Others

Most employees aren’t going. Ignoring the political ramifications of moving to Texas, it’s a large move. Most people cannot uproot their lives, move away from family and friends, and possibly drag their own family, to another state. On top of that, the move disproportionately affects the groups of people that are unwelcome in Texas. Texas has attacked bodily autonomy for women and people who can get pregnant, transgender healthcare and bodily autonomy, family members of people with a transgender child, healthcare providers, and even same-sex marriage. It has also attacked education and accurate teaching on America’s history. The state is also well-known for remaining “sundown towns” and racism, even in cities like Austin.

Apple’s forced relocation is difficult for all employees, but it’s dangerous or impossible for marginalized groups. Apple doesn’t seem to want to make exception for those who would put their health and safety in danger by moving.

“When we last talked, you said, ‘I believe that everyone should be treated with dignity and respect, and that all roads lead to equality.’ How should people think about your commitment to equality and the politics of Texas, which would seem to be clashing with that?”

– John Dickerson for CBS News, speaking to Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO

“We believe in treating everyone with dignity and respect. And that’s how we show up as a company. We believe in being a part of the community, and trying to advocate for change, rather than pulling the moat up and going away.”

– Tim Cook, Apple CEO, in response. Cook is from Alabama and now lives in a $10 million mansion in California (not Texas or Alabama)

I’m certainly being harsh here, and not entirely fair to Mr. Cook. However, the fact remains: Tim Cook signed off on a decision that disproportionately affects marginalized groups. Apple uprooted people’s lives at the start of the New Year and gave them very little in compensation. He doesn’t deserve the benefit of the doubt, decisions like this obviously affect out groups. Tim Cook, more than most people, knows the dangers for LGBTQ and non-white people in some areas of the country.

I personally have been at a company that had a similar offer to employees: move south or leave. Overwhelming, the LGBTQ+ people I spoke to knew they couldn’t even consider the move. Others had the option open to them. While most turned it down, some did make the move. It’s impossible to ignore that these moves from free states to authoritarian states disproportionately affects the victims of those harsh laws. Companies that make these decisions uphold the hate of the place they ask employees to call home, rather than confront it by taking their business elsewhere. Apple bounces back and forth between being the most valuable company in the world and the second most valuable company in the world. They can afford to let their employees work in places that are safe for them. For minimal savings, they choose not to, while executives stay safe in large mansions in California.

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