Maryland Apple Store first to vote in favor of unionization

AppleInsider

In a clear majority, employees at the Towson Town Center, Maryland Apple Store have voted to form a union, and the ball is now in Apple's court.

Apple Towson Town Center, Maryland

The vote was 65 employees in favor, and 33 against unionization. This is in line with expectations, and will give the employees a supermajority, making it harder Apple to overcome the formation of the union.

"I applaud the courage displayed by CORE members at the Apple store in Towson for achieving this historic victory," said IAM international president Robert Martinez Jr. said on Saturday to the Wall Street Journal. "They made a huge sacrifice for thousands of Apple employees across the nation who had all eyes on this election."

The Towson Town Center store near Baltimore wasn't the first to file to unionize. Apple Stores in New York, and also Atlanta, in their aim to unionize.

When originally announced, organizers within the store said that they have worked on getting support for almost a year. They worked in coordination with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers to launch the union at the store.

It's not yet clear what the terms of the deal will be. Organizers in the two previous stores have been pressing for an increase in the current starting pay of $20 per hour, and Apple has since promised to pay $22 per hour.

Workers at the Cumberland Mall store in Atlanta, for example, are asking for an increase to $28 per hour. Employees in the Grand Central Station Apple Store in New York are asking for an increase in the starting wage to $30.

Apple's retail chief Deirdre O'Brien pushed back against recent unionization efforts at some of the company's brick-and-mortar locations in a new video to staff members. She has said that the efforts could slow workplace progress and potentially harm the relationship between Apple and its employees.

The company has recently been accused of violating the National Labor Relations Act and countering an ongoing union drive at Apple Cumberland Mall in Georgia.

The company previously circulated anti-union materials to some store managers and has hired well-known anti-union lawyers to respond to the Atlanta union campaign.

Apple has yet to comment on the matter.

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jfc_pa

A union now representing machinists and aerospace workers? For a retail store? That’s should be well informed. 

jroy

This is excellent news!

darth_kalel

Excellent news for workers rights.  

ronn

The 1st of many I'm sure. I remember when some belittled the efforts once the 1st Starbucks unionized. In the first six months 150 Starbucks have unionized and probably more than that will unionize the 2nd half of 2022. Apple Atlanta will eventually unionize after pushing back their vote. And I suspect Grand Central (NYC) will also unionize shortly.

danox

Good for them, if all 66,000 USA workers joined, it would cost Apple a mere four billion dollars per assuming if they all made 62,000 dollars per year which they won’t.

The actual amount payed will probably be somewhere around three billion dollars per year which is far below what Apple pay’s in dividends for one quarter out of four quarters in a year, in these gig economy times it could make difference in the lives of close to 200,000 Americans. (Assuming they have families).

zone

Happy for them, more to follow. However, this has already caused Apple to up the quality of the work environment. Apple should have done this years ago without the threat of a union. Retail was always treated as second-class employees. No excuses for the resources Apple has and the employee quality they expected (at least back when it all started).

As a former original employee back in the day, it was dark times as we worked our asses off. Common to work 10 days in a row and less than 10 hours between shifts. A brutal work environment with non-stop interaction with customers. None existent break rooms, no room to store lunches, and dirty and gross bathrooms were the norm. Low pay, bad management, and tons of unrealistic goals. Apple lost a ton of really talented people as they worked people to their breaking point. A high-quality customer experience was expected with many salespeople toping over a million dollars in sales in stores that did around 20 million or less. Lots of add-on goals with high-profit margins were expected. 

For the newbies, really don't know how much easier they have it. However, I believe the higher the pay the better the employees and ultimately better customer experience. Apple really does care about its customers. Retail employees not so much but it is getting better. 

For those who will say if you don't like it leave for another job. When retail started most customers had no idea how hard this job is and couldn't do it themself if they tried. Some really smart and caring people worked in the trenches and help build this giant company. As for myself, I left with over a million in stock so while it was hell I came away with a big win. It's not uncoming for original retail employees walking away with that much and more. Well, the ones who bought the stock when it was super cheap. Very few millionaire retail mall employees in this country but the ones who are are some of the smartest hard-working people you will ever meet in any industry. I don't think this is possible at any other retail company for non-management employees. Hats off to all of you and good luck to the new people. 

9secondkox2

Weird. Apple didn’t want teamsters running their employees so they offered a WAY better package than any retail worker deserves. 

And they still wanted the union? 

I have a bridge I’d like to sell these people…

Apple has the right to hire who it wants and pay them what they signed up for. 

Employees have the right to sign on, work hard, request raises, etc. and move on if they don’t like it.   That’s how it’s supposed to work. 

edited June 2022

laytech

Unions used to be important in the day where there were no workers right but these days they are outdated, out of touch with reality. Sadly, they only have themselves to blame, greedy, unreasonable demands, bullying by some, and pretty much meant lots of manufacturing has simply left the country. 

However, in this case. Costs will go up. Shops could close. This is not to say people should not be paid what they are worth but the unions can’t help themselves and push it too far. The only losers are the union members themselves- take a good look at what’s happened globally. 

rob53

Do Apple Store employees get medical insurance and other benefits? Sick leave, maternity/paternity pay, vacation accrual, any 401K benefits? Will a union that has nothing to do with retail stores give them that and if they do at what cost? How many union supervisors will the employees have to support? Will the union restrict or encourage employee advancement? Has the IAMAW been investigated for any fraud and illegal activities like the UAW?

I worked for the united steel workers during college but never under a union since. I just hope Apple employees have an open mind to what could happen to them under a union. It may not be better and could end up being worse. 

robin huber

9secondkox2 said:

Weird. Apple didn’t want teamsters running their employees so they offered a WAY better package than any retail worker deserves. 

And they still wanted the union? 

I have a bridge I’d like to sell these people…

Apple has the right to hire who it wants and pay them what they signed up for. 

Employees have the right to sign on, work hard, request raises, etc. and move on if they don’t like it.   That’s how it’s supposed to work. 

And unions scare the horses!

sunman42

JFC_PA said:

A union now representing machinists and aerospace workers? For a retail store? That’s should be well informed. 

Did you know the Teamsters (originally a union of mule drivers) represent flight attendants, printers, and railroad workers in many places in America? The name on the union doesn't mean much, it's the experience in organizing and negotiating with management that does.

sunman42

"Unions used to be important in the day where there were no workers right but these days they are outdated, out of touch with reality. Sadly, they only have themselves to blame, greedy, unreasonable demands, bullying by some, and pretty much meant lots of manufacturing has simply left the country. 

"However, in this case. Costs will go up. Shops could close. This is not to say people should not be paid what they are worth but the unions can’t help themselves and push it too far. The only losers are the union members themselves- take a good look at what’s happened globally."

Did they teach you that in the undergraduate business school course on how to deprive workers of basic human rights?

The point of a union, any union, is to balance the immense power of large businesses and the virtually nonexistent power of individual employees in capitalist economies by organizing the employees so they can negotiate what those benefits should be. In Europe, businesses often have employee (union) representations on their corporate boards, but no, in the good, old USofA, the making of more money by the already wealthy is sacred, and employees shouldn't be able to negotiate the share of the wealth they help create with the business owners.

You have been brainwashed by representatives of a wildly successful economic system — that is, if you measure success by how much of the increase in wealth in concentrated in 0.1% of the population, who do << 0.1% of the work that creates the wealth.

danox

laytech said:

Unions used to be important in the day where there were no workers right but these days they are outdated, out of touch with reality. Sadly, they only have themselves to blame, greedy, unreasonable demands, bullying by some, and pretty much meant lots of manufacturing has simply left the country. 

However, in this case. Costs will go up. Shops could close. This is not to say people should not be paid what they are worth but the unions can’t help themselves and push it too far. The only losers are the union members themselves- take a good look at what’s happened globally. 

Not out dated in Germany or France or Norway, maybe in the English speaking western countries? Currently most of the American truckers are being run over without a union, UPS, or the dock workers have a union and are the exceptions, working for Uber, or Instacart or any other of the sharecropper enterprises is race to the bottom that won’t end well for the country.

Note: Apple will soon get to nearly 1 TRILLION dollars in stock buybacks (in a little over ten years), four billion dollars is a pittance but will make a difference to many Americans….

danox

rob53 said:

Do Apple Store employees get medical insurance and other benefits? Sick leave, maternity/paternity pay, vacation accrual, any 401K benefits? Will a union that has nothing to do with retail stores give them that and if they do at what cost? How many union supervisors will the employees have to support? Will the union restrict or encourage employee advancement? Has the IAMAW been investigated for any fraud and illegal activities like the UAW?

I worked for the united steel workers during college but never under a union since. I just hope Apple employees have an open mind to what could happen to them under a union. It may not be better and could end up being worse. 

As apposed to? Flapping in the breeze? as one person you will get run over by Apple, Amazon, Uber, Instacart, Starbucks, or most of the current trucking companies, alternatively you can suffer in one of the right to work states, workers trying to organize isn’t surprising, Apple isn’t offering layaway for nothing affordability for most
Americans doesn’t appear to be getting better.

anantksundaram

It'll amount to a hill of beans in the longer run.

To paraphrase Frank Zappa's comment on jazz, "unions aren't dead, they just smell funny." They barely crack membership by 10% of the US workforce...

macxpress

I bet this fizzles out before the end of the year...and the grass isn't always greener on the other side if it does happen to come to complete fruition. 

hodar

About 7% of the US workforce belongs to a union, and that number is dropping.  Why?

if unions are so good, if they were truly altruistic in purpose, wouldn’t their growth by much higher?  Why are people suing, and winning, for the right to work without mandatory membership in a union?

unions are a disinterested 3rd party you hire to speak to management, when you have zero trust in management.  If you can honestly deal with management, you shouldn’t need a union

9secondkox2

robin huber said:

9secondkox2 said:

Weird. Apple didn’t want teamsters running their employees so they offered a WAY better package than any retail worker deserves. 

And they still wanted the union? 

I have a bridge I’d like to sell these people…

Apple has the right to hire who it wants and pay them what they signed up for. 

Employees have the right to sign on, work hard, request raises, etc. and move on if they don’t like it.   That’s how it’s supposed to work. 

And unions scare the horses!

As Any organization with roots in mafia operations SHOULD. It’s quite astounding that such operations are even legal in the USA - and this is coming from someone who was part of a union. 

edited June 2022

davgreg

Unions - at least in the American model - are cancer.
A generation of young people are going to learn a very harsh lesson before all of this is over.

Give you an example:
Non union auto workers make more money than UAW workers and get better benefits without paying union dues.
They also make better cars - note that Mercedes, Volkswagen, BMW, Volvo, Subaru Mazda, Toyota, Nissan, & Hyundai all located the plants in At-Will Right to Work states.

VW, Mitsubishi and Mazda all had life altering bad experiences with workers in - or agitating for- unions. Some of the staff at Tesla in Fremont are constantly agitating for a union -imagine that had some impact on the decision to locate the next factory in Texas.

9secondkox2

davgreg said:

Unions - at least in the American model - are cancer.
A generation of young people are going to learn a very harsh lesson before all of this is over.

Give you an example:
Non union auto workers make more money than UAW workers and get better benefits without paying union dues.
They also make better cars - note that Mercedes, Volkswagen, BMW, Volvo, Subaru Mazda, Toyota, Nissan, & Hyundai all located the plants in At-Will Right to Work states.

VW, Mitsubishi and Mazda all had life altering bad experiences with workers in - or agitating for- unions. Some of the staff at Tesla in Fremont are constantly agitating for a union -imagine that had some impact on the decision to locate the next factory in Texas.

Unions: “pay us money for the privilege of going to work.” Eh? 

You know who unions are good for? The guys running the unions.