Workers at an Apple Store in the US state of Maryland voted to form a union, a first for the tech giant, which has strongly pushed back against union efforts in the past.
According to AFP news agency, 65 of the 110 employees at the Apple Store in Towson, Baltimore County, voted for joining the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), while 33 voted against it.
With this, it became the first of Apple’s 270-odd stores in the US to be described by IAM as “the one for history”.
“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 a statement accessed by NBC News. “I ask Apple CEO Tim Cook to respect the election results and fast-track the first contract for dedicated IAM CORE Apple employees in Towson,” he said.
The union said Towson store employees joined forces with a coalition of organized retail workers to send a letter to Tim Cook, “informing him of the decision to organize” and urging him to form a union. Don’t stop or block your efforts.
Earlier, amid murmurs of a unionizing drive, Apple’s senior VP of retail Deirdre O’Brien issued a video warning to employees that joining a union could harm the company’s business. In early 2022, the tech giant became First US firm to reach market valuation of $3 trillion.
After a successful vote to unionize, Tyra Reeder, a tech expert at the Apple Store in Towson, told The New York Times that she hoped a union would help workers get better pay, improve the store’s scheduling and COVID-19 policies. Will improve and make it easier. For workers to advance within the company.
In April, employees at an Apple Store in Atlanta announced their intention to hold union elections. But support for the unionizing drive waned after the company highlighted the pay raises and benefits it offers, while employees were reportedly indicated during contract negotiations if they unionized. Those benefits may be lost.
Apple has yet to issue a statement on Towson Store’s bid to join a consortium.
