Employees of Apple’s Towson Town Center store in Maryland have voted to unionize, with 65 yes and 33 nos. About 110 employees were eligible to vote in the election.
The store is the first Apple retail location in the US to hold a union election, after organizers in Atlanta withdrew their petition to hold a union vote, which was due in early May.
The organizing at the Towson store is organized by a group of employees who call themselves AppleCORE (an acronym for Coalition of Organized Retail Employees). Workers have said they want to expand their rights, especially when it comes to pay, hours and protections. AppleCORE is associated with a large, established union, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.
Apple has not welcomed many unionization campaigns at its stores with open arms. The company hired anti-union lawyers, and the store and even corporate leadership told employees why they should not join the union. Organizers in Atlanta also withdrew their petition to hold the election, claiming that Apple’s behavior made it impossible to obtain a fair vote, and accused the company of unionizing through captive audience meetings at two different locations. accused of extortion.
Currently, there are no other union polls scheduled at US Apple Retail Stores. However, employees at Apple’s Grand Central store in New York, in collaboration with the Communications Workers of America union, are in the process of collecting the signatures needed to petition for the vote. Efforts are also being made to organize an Apple Store in Louisville, Kentucky.