TOWSON, Md. (AP) – The historic vote by employees of Apple’s Maryland store for union – the first for the technology giant – is a significant step in a long process that labor experts say strongly opposes workers in favor of their employers.
Employees of the Apple store in the suburbs of Baltimore voted for unionization by almost 2 to 1 difference on Saturday, joining the growing push in the American retail industries, services and organizing technologies for greater protection in the workplace.
It is not yet clear whether the recent wave of unions represents a broader shift in American labor. But experts say the current shortage of part-time and low-paid workers means that employees have more power than they had in the past, especially when unemployment is low.
“It’s not such a big deal to lose one of these jobs because you could find another bad job,” said Ruth Milkman, a labor scientist at City University of New York.
The question is what is happening now?
Apple retailers in Towson, Maryland, voted 65 to 33 to join the International Association of Drivers and Aerospace Workers, the union said in a statement. The National Labor Relations Council must now certify the result. A spokesman took initial inquiries about the vote to the regional office of the board, which closed late Saturday. The board did not respond immediately to a statement from the Associated Press on Sunday.
Once the vote is confirmed, the alliance and Apple can begin negotiating a deal.
“Labor law in the United States is a long process. So the fact that a store negotiates or chooses a union does not mean that there is a contract in the workplace. And in recent history, we know that in many of these situations, the parties can’t agree on an initial contract, “said Michael Duff, a former NLRB lawyer and professor at the University of Wyoming College of Law.
“An employer in the United States has an awful lot of rights to just withdraw recognition at the end of the process. The employer can prove that it no longer supports the majority of the employees in the negotiating unit, “Duff added.
Even after union certification, a company has a number of legal maneuvers at its disposal to combat it, Duff said. For example, Apple may say that it does not believe that the NLRB-certified negotiating unit is an appropriate negotiating unit. and refuse to bargain with the union.
“If that happens, the whole thing goes to court and it could easily be a year or two before you even get asked if the employer has to bargain with the union,” Duff added.
Labor experts say it is common for employers to procrastinate in the negotiation process in an attempt to extract momentum from union campaigns. It is also possible that Apple – or any other company – will restructure its business so that union workers are reclassified as independent contractors rather than employees, in which case union voting is controversial, Duff said.
Apple declined to comment on developments on Saturday, company spokesman Josh Lipton told the Associated Press by telephone. Arrived again on Sunday, Apple did not comment.
The successful vote inspired workers across the country to organize, said John Logan, director of labor and employment research at San Francisco State University.
“Workers are already organizing in other Apple stores, but that shows them that the company is not invincible,” he said.
The famous Apple brand is also likely to help.
“The public has a very direct relationship with companies like Apple, so the first victory of the unions will generate huge coverage in traditional media and social media,” Logan said. “Young workers are learning about union activism through this reflection, and some are likely to be inspired to try to organize their own jobs.
Although U.S. labor laws are in place against workers, Duff said he believes that “if there is a revived labor movement in the United States, that’s exactly what will happen.”
Trade union organization in various fields has gained momentum recently after decades of declining membership in American unions. Organizers have worked to create unions in companies including Amazon, Starbucks, the parent company of Google Alphabet and retailer REI.
The International Association of Drivers and Aerospace Workers and Apple employees, who wanted to join, said they had sent a notice to Apple CEO Tim Cook last month that they were seeking to form an alliance. The statement said their motivation was to seek “rights we do not currently have”. He added that the workers had recently organized in the Coalition of Organized Retail Employees or CORE.
“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. “They have made a huge sacrifice for thousands of Apple employees across the country who have turned a blind eye to this election.
Martinez called on Apple to respect the election results and allow its union members to step up their efforts to secure a contract on the spot in Towson.
IAM is represented as one of the largest and most diverse industrial unions in North America, representing approximately 600,000 active and retired members in the aerospace, defense, airlines, rail, transportation, healthcare, automotive and other industries. Logan said Apple’s victory shows that the established labor movement “is able to adapt to the needs of the group of independent-minded, confident workers you find in Apple stores.”
The vote to unite Apple stores comes amid other efforts to organize labor across the country – some of which were rejected.
Amazon workers in a New York warehouse voted in favor of unionization in April, the first successful U.S. effort in the history of the retail giant. However, workers at another Amazon warehouse on Staten Island rejected a union offer by a majority last month. Meanwhile, Starbucks workers in dozens of stores in the United States have voted for syndication in recent months, after two of the coffee chain’s stores in Buffalo, New York, voted for syndication late last year.
Many union efforts have been led by young workers in their 20s and even teenagers. A group of engineers and other Google employees formed the Alphabet Workers Union last year, which represents about 800 Google employees and is run by five people under the age of 35.
“This is a generation with a worldview that is really different from the one we’ve seen in many generations,” said Milkman of CUNY. “They believe in that.”
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