Apple retail workers in a Baltimore suburb have become the first in the company to unionize after holding a historic vote of 65-33, nearly a 2-to-1 margin, this weekend.
According to the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, the Apple employees in the store in Towson, Maryland, organized in a group known as AppleCORE or Coalition of Organized Retail Employees, voted on Saturday to seek entry into the union.
IAM International President Robert Martinez Jr. applauded the courage displayed by CORE members for achieving this, as he stressed, historic victory, underlining that they’ve made a huge sacrifice for thousands of Apple employees across the US.
However, the National Labor Relations Board, which would have to certify the outcome, could not immediately confirm the vote.
Apple declined to comment on the development despite the information that Maryland-based workers revealed their intention to unionize in a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook earlier this month.
The New York Times reported that while the workers in the Maryland store are the first Apple employees to approve unionization, a similar move is considered by the employees at more than two dozen other Apple stores.
After decades of decline in US union membership, union organizing in a variety of fields has recently gained momentum with organizers working to establish unions at US giants including Starbucks, outdoors retailer REI, the Google parent company Alphabet, and Amazon.
Both Apple and Amazon have actively encouraged workers to reject organizing efforts.
In the first successful US organizing effort in the retail giant’s history, Amazon workers at a warehouse in New York voted to unionize in April although a month later, the union bid was overwhelmingly rejected by the workers at another Amazon warehouse on Staten Island
In recent months, Starbucks workers have voted to unionize at dozens of US stores.
Be the first to comment