Apple Store Workers in Maryland Become First to Sing –

Apple Store employees outside Baltimore have formed the tech giant’s first retail union in the United States, another high-profile achievement in the labor movement this year.

The union’s success with Apple shows that the wave of labor organization that has just hit Starbucks, Amazon and REI can continue to spread to other major employers. Many workers abused during the pandemic are seeking union representation in an unusually tight labor market, where the Labor Council has seen a dramatic increase in election petitions this year compared to 2021.

Machine Builders Union president Robert Martinez Jr. immediately called on Apple to begin negotiating a contract and praised Apple workers for what he called a “historic achievement.”

“They’ve made huge sacrifices for the thousands of Apple employees across the country who turned a blind eye to this election,” he said.

Towson’s workers organized a union of machine makers called the Apple Coalition of Organized Retail Employees, or AppleCORE. Sent in Letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook They said last month that they “joined as a union because of our deep love for our roles as workers and for caring for the company itself.”

They instructed other workers of “large companies in the technical and services sector” who chose to join the union and they were proud to follow in the footsteps of these workers. More than 100 Starbucks stores have merged since late last year, and Amazon’s first U.S. merger with New York was launched in April.

These companies are strongly opposed to their employees ’desire to form a union, and Apple appears to take a similar stance, perhaps concerned that the successful union offer will quickly spread to others. more stores in the country, such as Starbucks.

Store managers already have The workers called not to participate The meeting with employees and the company took the same law firm to prevent Starbucks unions, Littler Mendelssohn, from fighting these efforts. Meanwhile, a company executive released a video to thousands of workers to prevent unions from doing so The Verge reported this . “I’m worried about what it means to have another organization at the center of our relationship,” said Deirdre O’Brien, chief executive.

Other Apple retailers have also recently started the campaign. The American Telecommunications Workers ’Union petitioned to choose an Apple Store in Atlanta Mall, but I withdrew it. Weeks later, unions sometimes do something when they feel they have lost the support they need.

The CWA also organizes workers at Apple’s Grand Central store in New York City, where workers are trying to vote.