
In addition, the average pay is only $20 an hour for workers who require considerable technical skills to service Apple’s customers. This is “forcing her to take vacation and sick days for routine child-care needs.”

A worker told the Post that she is forced “to juggle her duties as a parent to three kids” with Apple’s inflexible scheduling system. The Apple employees are pressing for better work schedules and other improvements in opposition to the corporation’s heavy-handed and oppressive practices.
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“How is it fair that we are being dictated as to what to do, what to say, how to act-but we don’t get any say in any of the things that are happening in our everyday lives: our safety, our well-being, our mental health?” “We’re literally the face of Apple,” said employee Chaya Barrett to the Baltimore Sun.

The Towson workers voted 65-33 to join the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) after a month-and-a-half unionization campaign, which began in early May.Īccording to the Washington Post, “Towson Mall employees said they hope organizing will give them a seat at the table on things like coronavirus safety, hours and pay.” The group will form a specific division of IAM called the Coalition of Organized Retail Employees, or “Apple CORE.” There have also been an impressive string of union wins at Starbucks locations nationwide since late last year.Apple store employees in the Baltimore suburb of Towson, Maryland voted on Saturday to become the first workers at one of the computer giant’s 270 US retail outlets to join a union. The Apple store victory follows the union win at an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island, New York, the first Amazon facility to do so. Pridgen, who has worked at the store for 8 years, said workers want to have a say in hours and scheduling, as well as safety protocols. That was the most important thing to me,” Pridgen said. "Compensation is important, considering the cost of living in general and inflation, but the bigger thing is having a say. The New York Times reported that over 24 Apple stores have expressed interest in organizing, including the NYC location in Grand Central Terminal.Ĭhristie Pridgen, a tech expert at the store and one of the Towson organizers, told CNN that the major issue driving the organizing efforts was the desire for workers to have a say in how the store is run. To be clear, the decision to form a union is about us as workers gaining access to rights that we do not currently have,” the letter read.Īs the first Apple store in the U.S to successfully unionize, the Towson workers have the potential to ignite a movement for Apple stores in other states. “We have come together as a union because of a deep love of our role as workers within the company and out of care for the company itself. They made a huge sacrifice for thousands of Apple employees across the nation who had all eyes on this election,” IAM International President Robert Martinez said in a statement.īREAKING: In a historic victory, Apple Store employees in Maryland win the first union at Apple.ĭespite a nationwide anti-union campaign by Apple management, workers voted overwhelmingly 65-33 to unionize with /y9ysRGQpQ1 "I applaud the courage displayed by CORE members at the Apple store in Towson for achieving this historic victory. Now, the Towson store will be represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) and they are referring to themselves as the Coalition of Organized Retail Employees (CORE). Since then, Apple raised retail pay to a $22 per hour minimum, a raise of $2. When the organizers first filed for an election, 70 out of 100 Cumberland Mall store employees signed union authorization cards. Meanwhile, a store in Atlanta, Georgia was scheduled to be the first to hold a union election, but the organizers withdrew their request, alleging that Apple was using illegal union-busting tactics against them, such as “captive audience” meetings. In the leaked video, she falsely claims that if workers unionize, Apple may not be able to provide "immediate, widespread" benefits going forward.

BREAKING: Apple's head of retail Deirdre O'Brien sent an anti-union video to all of Apple's retail stores in the U.S.
