Workers at NYC Grand Central Apple Store start moving to unionize

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Apple employees working at the New York City Grand Central Apple Store are working to form a union, with workers taking steps that could result in it being the first Apple retail outlet to unionize.




Unrest among some Apple Store employees in the United States over stagnating wages surfaced in February, with a number of stores preparing to file paperwork to create a union. In the case of one New York City outlet, it seems that the activity has progressed considerably.

The organizers of "Fruit Stand Workers United" has started to collect signatures at the flagship Grand Central Apple Store, the Washington Post reports. After a vote on February 21 to affiliate with Workers United, the organizers are now handing out signature cards to potential union members.

Workers United previously assisted another major unionizing effort concerning a multinational in supporting efforts by Starbucks employees across the United States.

The store has the potential to become the first Apple Store location to unionize, if enough votes are gathered to create the union, but it's not the only one aiming to do so. Anonymous employees told the report that at least three other locations are working on making their own unions.

An update to a website run by the organizers states "Grand Central is an extraordinary store with unique working conditions that make a union necessary to ensure our team has the best possible standards of living in what have proven to be extraordinary times with the ongoing covid-19 pandemic and once-in-a-generation consumer price inflation."

Apple declined to comment to the report about whether it supports or intends to combat he union, but said in a statement it was "fortunate to have incredible retail team members and we deeply value everything they bring to Apple. We are pleased to offer very strong compensation and benefits for full time and part time employees, including health care, tuition reimbursement, new parental leave, paid family leave, annual stock grants and many other benefits."

Read on AppleInsider
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 27
    crowleycrowley Posts: 10,453member
    Once one goes there will likely be a domino effect.  Good times.
    lkruppronnFileMakerFeller
  • Reply 2 of 27
    Unions are a joke. I was part of a union for 6 years and they did sh*t for the workers other than collect dues. Good luck to ya!
    lkruppPaul_BiloveapplegeariOS_Guy80Cesar Battistini Maziero
  • Reply 3 of 27
    crowley said:
    Once one goes there will likely be a domino effect.  Good times.
    It’s probably going to depend on if they can get anywhere in NY. Even in CA which is heavily unionized, it hasn’t gotten much traction in almost a decade. 
    I’m not sure how unionizing will help employees, since there aren’t any reports on what the union will do.  It might just be a threat to get Apple to pay more to its retail employees.  
    iOS_Guy80
  • Reply 4 of 27
    tommikeletommikele Posts: 599member
    crowley said:
    Once one goes there will likely be a domino effect.  Good times.
    Exactly what "good times" are you expecting?
    iloveapplegear
  • Reply 5 of 27
    MadbumMadbum Posts: 536member
    pjorlando said:
    Unions are a joke. I was part of a union for 6 years and they did sh*t for the workers other than collect dues. Good luck to ya!
    It’s more than a joke, it’s detrimental to a persons career and advancement. Let’s hope Apple employees are smarter than this. But often times the “organizers” are no better than the mob and use fake votes and peer pressure to get their way.

    You are wrong when you said they did shit for you, trust me, they did plenty , such as piss off management on your behalf, say you stand for things you don’t stand for, it’s generally a giant shit show! 

    people Must remember, once you let these people get their way, you no longer belong to yourself , you belong to the union and essentially your career at Apple is over.

    Apple of course will be diplomatic on the surface but rest assured, once you are in a union, you are essentially an enemy of the company and you will be replaced  first chance they get. 

    Let’s also not forget, this is Apple, some dinky Apple store union, even all of them unionize, will not have enough resources to fight Apple on anything, so people are just paying their dues to the organizers for them to do whatever, buy a car ?

    lastly, unions will kill individual advancement , think about the lazy idiot at work who is always trying to get by by doing the least, well, once you are in same union with that guy, you guys are now the same person. Congrats!

    final word, most Apple
    stores have younger employees and people passing through to another career, I honestly don’t think there will be much interest in a  union! Also if you are young and working at Apple store  part time and eventually want to get a letter of recommendation from managment, 

    Don’t join a union!!!


    edited April 2022 lkruppoldcastleiOS_Guy80Cesar Battistini Maziero
  • Reply 6 of 27
    MadbumMadbum Posts: 536member
    crowley said:
    Once one goes there will likely be a domino effect.  Good times.
    It’s probably going to depend on if they can get anywhere in NY. Even in CA which is heavily unionized, it hasn’t gotten much traction in almost a decade. 
    I’m not sure how unionizing will help employees, since there aren’t any reports on what the union will do.  It might just be a threat to get Apple to pay more to its retail employees.  
    My nephew works at an Apple store, they already get paid very very well with crazy benefits for a retail worker. 
    doozydozeniOS_Guy80Cesar Battistini Maziero
  • Reply 7 of 27
    xbitxbit Posts: 390member
    Madbum said:
    My nephew works at an Apple store, they already get paid very very well with crazy benefits for a retail worker. 
    They've also been shafted by Apple on several occasions.


    darkvaderronnFileMakerFellergrandact73
  • Reply 8 of 27
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    If you are in a union your chances of advancing to a salaried position become almost null and void. So if you have dreams of climbing the ladder at Apple by starting at the retail level you can forget about them. You will remain on the lowest rung with the lowest pay and benefits.

    Union leaderships typically have far left agendas and though there are laws that prohibit union dues being used for political purposes those laws are ignored. If unions stuck to their supposed purpose, collective bargaining, they might be better accepted by corporations. But union leadership is often actively involved in left wing politics and use their membership as tools and levers in the political process, even if a substantial percentage of those members do not support their positions or agendas.
    edited April 2022 premiiOS_Guy80Madbum
  • Reply 9 of 27
    darkvaderdarkvader Posts: 1,146member
    All retail employees should unionize.  It's a hard job, pay is low, and worker abuse is rampant.  It's also literally impossible to outsource, so once unions get a real foothold wages and working conditions can only improve.

    I try to shop at union stores as much as possible.  It would be amazing if Apple workers unite!

    ronndoozydozenOfersandortokyojimu
  • Reply 10 of 27
    Paul_BPaul_B Posts: 82member
    pjorlando said:
    Unions are a joke. I was part of a union for 6 years and they did sh*t for the workers other than collect dues. Good luck to ya!

    I fully agree, in fact, unions will sub-contract, layoff union workers with children to feed, and call themselves Righteous.  But it's New York City too much crack in the water over decades.
    iOS_Guy80
  • Reply 11 of 27
    Unions don't work for industries with a lot of part time and temporary employees. You pay dues and make pension contributions and never collect. Unions are about the myth of power...everybody wants it. But only a few will use it to advantage. In a union it's the bosses. 
    iOS_Guy80Madbum
  • Reply 12 of 27
    “at will” employment skews all in favor of the corporations. And the larger the corp, the worse for the employees.  At will means they terminate you “because”. They can hide discrimination based on all those things that are supposed to be protected. They can and do force you to sign over all your rights to legal recourse in order to work for them. And don’t say you can always just “work somewhere else” because there is nowhere else that doesn’t also do the same bullsh*t. 

    Individuals get screwed in the name of “it’s just business”, but if any employee behaved towards a corp the same way, they’d get blackballed. 
    ronnOferFileMakerFeller
  • Reply 13 of 27
    So the Apples formed a Union
    And demanded equal rights
    They said Cook is just too greedy
    We will make him give us light
    ...
    studiomusic
  • Reply 14 of 27
    MadbumMadbum Posts: 536member
    xbit said:
    Madbum said:
    My nephew works at an Apple store, they already get paid very very well with crazy benefits for a retail worker. 
    They've also been shafted by Apple on several occasions.


    It’s all relative, compared to other retailers, Apple is quite good
  • Reply 15 of 27
    MadbumMadbum Posts: 536member
    oldcastle said:
    Unions don't work for industries with a lot of part time and temporary employees. You pay dues and make pension contributions and never collect. Unions are about the myth of power...everybody wants it. But only a few will use it to advantage. In a union it's the bosses. 
    A few of the lazy Apple employees just watched the Irishmen and want to be Jimmy Hoffa lol
  • Reply 16 of 27
    MadbumMadbum Posts: 536member
    darkvader said:
    All retail employees should unionize.  It's a hard job, pay is low, and worker abuse is rampant.  It's also literally impossible to outsource, so once unions get a real foothold wages and working conditions can only improve.

    I try to shop at union stores as much as possible.  It would be amazing if Apple workers unite!

    Apple will just hire younger staff who are willing to be non union and part time. This is not Auto industry where people work for a life time 

    hard core union demands will just alienate workers and company, Apple do not have to use union workers, especially in tech industry where any part time college kid who been using  apple products since they were 10 can works there with little bit of training 
  • Reply 17 of 27
    javaduke said:
    So the Apples formed a Union
    And demanded equal rights
    They said Cook is just too greedy
    We will make him give us light
    ...

    Hatchet, axe, and saw!
  • Reply 18 of 27
    laytechlaytech Posts: 335member
    Unions are draconian, they stifle business, increase costs and are run by selfish bullies who are only focused on their own self gain. Unions served a purpose many years ago but there are now much stronger workplace laws that unions are obsolete.
    Madbum
  • Reply 19 of 27
    MadbumMadbum Posts: 536member
    laytech said:
    Unions are draconian, they stifle business, increase costs and are run by selfish bullies who are only focused on their own self gain. Unions served a purpose many years ago but there are now much stronger workplace laws that unions are obsolete.
    Apple won’t have to deal with this even if they unionize. These Apple store jobs can easily be filled by college students part time who has been using Apple products since they were 8 years old  with small amount of training.

    The only people this will hurt are the everyday workers who join the “union”, the organIzer will benefit with their new BMWs and apartments lol 
    edited April 2022
  • Reply 20 of 27
    22july201322july2013 Posts: 3,564member
    At the present time, what percent of Apple Store workers are full-time employees and what percent are working on fixed-length contracts?
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