Apple retail workers vote to unionize a store in Maryland

The Towson Town Center Apple shop in Maryland had a unionisation vote, with 65 in favour and 33 against. A total of 110 workers were able to cast ballots in the election. By almost a 2-to-1 margin, Apple shop employees in a Baltimore suburb voted to unionise on Saturday, according to a union, joining a rising movement in the U.S. retail, service, and tech sectors to organise for better labour rights. According to the union’s release, the Towson, Maryland, Apple retail employees chose by a vote of 65 to 33 to apply for membership in the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. The National Labor Relations Board would need to certify the results before the vote could be instantly certified. Initial inquiries regarding the vote were directed to the NLRB’s regional office, which was closed late Saturday.

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and the interested Apple employees claimed they informed Apple CEO Tim Cook of their intention to form a union last month. According to their mission statement, they were seeking “rights we do not currently have.” The workers had just just joined the Coalition of Organized Retail Employees, or CORE, it was stated.

The first successful U.S. organising attempt in the history of the retail giant was made by Amazon employees at a warehouse in New York City in April. The majority of employees at a different Amazon facility on Staten Island, though, rejected a union proposal last month. In the meanwhile, employees at hundreds of Starbucks locations around the United States have recently cast unionisation ballots after the coffee chain’s two Buffalo, New York, locations did so late last year. Young employees in their 20s and even in their teens have taken the helm of several unionisation campaigns. The Alphabet Workers Union, which includes around 800 Google employees and is led by five individuals under the age of 35, was founded by a group of Google engineers and other employees last year.