Apple Store in Towson, Maryland has voted in favor of a union and has become the first unionized location in the United States.
Earlier, this year, retail workers at several Apple locations in New York, Maryland, Georgia, Kentucky, and Tennessee organized for unionization. The effort aims to negotiate improved pay, leave, medical and other benefits from one of the most valuable companies in the world.
The tech giant used different tactics to discourage workers from voting for unionization like communicating disadvantages of a union like stringent relations with Apple, lack of career growth, and others, increasing minimum hourly pay to $22, introducing a more flexible work schedule And it appears that the company’s efforts to dissuade retail workers did not work in Maryland.
[Update: NLRB has certified the union election for Machinists Union’s Coalition of Organized Retail Employees At Towson, Apple Store in Maryland.]
65 out of 110 employees at the Apple Store in Towson, Maryland voted in favor of unionization
Organization efforts by AppleCore organization bore fruit on Saturday when an overwhelming majority of employees at the Apple Store in Towson, Maryland voted in favor of unionization, with 65 yes and only 33 no.
As the National Labor Relations Board needs to certify the votes, it will take about a week to officially form a union and after that, Apple will be required to negotiate issues like working conditions with the union. CNBC reports:
“We did it Towson! We won our union vote! Thanks to all who worked so hard and all who supported!” Towson organizers tweeted.
Workers are seeking more input over pay and working conditions, like how the stores handle Covid safety and other operations.
“To be clear, the decision to form a union is about us as workers gaining access to rights that we do not currently have,” Towson organizers wrote in a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook.
It is expected that union efforts in Maryland will encourage others to follow suit at Apple locations with high-traffic like Grand Central Terminal and World Trade Center locations in New York, Atlanta location in Georgia, Louisville location in Kentucky, and Nashville location in Tennessee
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