TOWSON, Md. — More than 100 employees of an Apple Store in a suburb of Baltimore voted Saturday to unionize by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, rising across the tech, retail and service industries to organize for greater workplace safety. The Americans joined in under the pressure. , said one union.
The union’s announcement said workers in Towson, Maryland, voted by a 65-33 margin to gain admission to the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. The result of the vote could not be immediately confirmed with the National Labor Relations Board, which must certify the result, and did not immediately respond to messages.
Union and Employees Intention Organizing said they had sent a notice to Apple CEO Tim Cook last month seeking to organize a union. The statement said his driving motivation is “to seek rights we do not currently have.”
“I appreciate the courage displayed by core members at the Apple Store in Towson to achieve this historic victory,” IAM International President Robert Martinez Jr. said in the statement. “He made a huge sacrifice for the thousands of Apple employees across the country who were watching this election.”
Messages left to Apple’s press office and a spokeswoman for the NLRB were not immediately returned late Saturday.
Martinez called on Apple to respect the election results and let unionizing employees fast-track efforts to secure a contract at the Towson location. “This victory reflects the growing demand for unions across our country at Apple Stores and in various industries,” he said in the statement.
Also known as the IAM, the union bills itself as one of the largest and most diverse industrial trade unions in North America, serving the aerospace, defense, airlines, railroad, transit, healthcare, automotive and other industries. It represents approximately 600,000 active and retired members. ,
