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Apple workers in the Baltimore area voted to join a union on Saturday, becoming the first of the US technology giant’s retail stores to do so.
The vote means that shop workers in Towson, Md., Plan to join the International Association of Drivers and Aerospace Workers (IAM) once the treaty is ratified. The initial result on Saturday night was 65-33, and the official census was pending.
Last month, workers and IAM sent a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook about their intention to organize as a Coalition of Organized Retail Employees – or AppleCore for short.
This vote is part of an organizing wave that is flooding the nation as workers unite more and more to demand higher pay, better benefits and more impact in negotiations with their employers during the pandemic. In New York, Amazon’s first warehouse voted to form an alliance in the spring. Dozens of Starbucks stores across the country have merged, with labor movements targeting REI open-air retailers and video game maker Raven Software.
Apple’s Maryland store is the third to launch a union
Billy Jarbo, a Towson Apple employee and union leader, said Apple’s campaign to undermine the organization’s efforts “definitely shook people,” but that most union supporters remained strong.
“I feel good about entering a new era of this kind of work, hopefully it creates a spark [and] other stores can use this impulse, “Jarbo said in a statement after Saturday’s vote.
Three Apple employees said the union had lost some supporters amid a corporate campaign to persuade workers not to organize.
“They made a lot of people hesitant – they definitely attracted some people who we thought were initially supporters,” said Eric Brown, who works at the Towson Apple store.
Brown said they were able to overcome this tactic because the organizers of the suspended campaign in Atlanta had prepared them for what to expect.
“They told us what some of the points of conversation and tactics would be, and we were able to let people know about some of the things they could try,” he said.
Apple spokesman Josh Lipton declined to comment after the vote.
About 20 Apple employees came to the Towson Town Center center on Saturday night, some of whom were in the room during the vote count. Afterwards, IAM spokesman DeLane Adams said the group went to the center’s garage, clapping and celebrating with IAM members present.
“I applaud the courage shown by CORE members at the Apple store in Towson to achieve this historic victory,” IAM International President Robert Martinez Jr. said in a statement after the vote. “They have made a huge sacrifice for thousands of Apple employees across the country who have turned a blind eye to this election.
Workers at at least two other locations in the Apple Store are trying to get organized, including a store in New York and one in Atlanta, which became the first place workers submitted documents to the National Labor Council. But America’s communications workers withdrew their call for elections there last month, saying in a statement that “repeated violations of the National Labor Law have made free and fair elections impossible.”
At that time, the organizing group sent a message to the workers in the store, saying that it would be zero and “this fight will continue.”
Rebecca Givan, an associate professor of labor research at Rutgers University, called Saturday’s result a big win for workers in the technology and retail sectors – and especially for Apple employees outside Towson.
“We will certainly see Apple workers across the country turn to these workers to learn more about how to do it,” she said. “And to find out how they won such a resounding victory.
Several companies, including Amazon and Apple, have been accused this year of “destroying unions” or using tactics to discourage or intimidate workers into joining unions. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)
Employees of the Apple Store in New York said this year that some workers had been fired by managers and delivered a speech about the traps of the unions there. During meetings, managers warned that joining a union would mean losing an advantage such as the ability to work at Apple’s corporate headquarters.
From Amazon to Apple, technology giants are turning to the destruction of old-school unions
Apple, which has more than 270 stores in the country, cited an earlier comment on the union’s efforts.
“We are lucky to have amazing members of the retail team and we deeply appreciate everything they bring to Apple,” Lipton said in a statement before the vote. “We are pleased to offer very strong compensation and compensation for full-time and part-time employees, including health care, fee reimbursement, new parental leave, paid family leave, annual share subsidies and many other benefits.
Apple’s Atlanta store was the first to apply for a union
Towson workers told The Washington Post last month that they hoped forming a union would give them a seat at the schedule for pay, pay, coronavirus safety measures and more. Some said Apple was too slow to increase pay and that the company should give individual stores more control over their planning systems instead of having a corporate office in control of most of it.
“I’ve always had the intuition that I’m giving more value than I’m getting compensation, and that’s what covid helped me unpack: how worried I was about it,” Jarboe, an Apple employee and union organizer, told The Post. the weather.
“We are celebrating tonight. We enjoy it, “said Tea Barrett, who works at the Towson store. “Then we will get together and find out how to set up a negotiating committee. … Even the people who voted against, we want them to be part of these negotiations. “
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