Apple Store in Maryland Makes History by Voting to Unionize

[MacRumors]

Apple Store employees in Maryland have made history by voting to officially unionize, becoming the first Apple retail location to do so in the U.S. after efforts by Apple to calm down unionization efforts.

As reported by CNBC, employees at the Apple Store in Towson, Maryland voted 65 for and 33 against a call to join the Machinists Union. 110 employees were eligible to vote Wednesday through Saturday evening. The employees are hopeful the new move will encourage Apple to provide better pay and working condition, both of which the company has already pledged to do.

As noted by CNBC, the National Labor Relations Board still needs to verify the votes before Apple must begin negotiations with the union.

In a video shared in May, Apple's head of retail and people, Deirdre O'Brien, said that employees have a "right to join a union" but added that it's also employees right to "not join a union." "We have a relationship that is based on an open and collaborative and direct engagement, which I feel could fundamentally change if a store is represented by a union under a collective bargaining agreement," O'Brien added.



Article Link: Apple Store in Maryland Makes History by Voting to Unionize

 

[HiVolt]

Wasnt there a better union to join than the "Machinists" union?

I'm no union expert especially not American ones, but isn't there some sort of retail workers union that could have better knowledge of retail store operations that could better represent Apple store workers?

 

[kiensoy]

Probably more Apple stores to follow.

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

More Apple stores may follow this. I wouldn’t be surprised but this seems like a bad move. Since Apple can easily close down this store and move its location. Thus, not having to deal with a union.

 

[erikkfi]

Wasnt there a better union to join than the "Machinists" union?

I'm curious how they decide on the union, but overall this isn't that uncommon. I once worked in a place where the IT staff were represented by the United Steel Workers union.

 

[GMShadow]

Well, we now know which Apple Store has the worst service in the world.

We can expect to see sexual harassment and assault rise in that store too, once the abusers make friends with the right people in the union (or the union leaders themselves will do it, as we see in the UAW)

 

[Glideslope]

Joined the Machinists Union? They’re Customer Service Representatives.

The Machinists are in China and India.

 

[zahuh]

CONGRATULATIONS! Together as one you may get even more! Apple coporate employees who want to work from home, you seeing this?! Increidble!

 

[swingerofbirch]

I don't know a lot about unions, but I know Apple has left them out there like canon fodder in the middle of a pandemic while their corporate employees are only just starting to go back in person.

I worked for Apple as a contractor where I was a de facto Apple employee but not technically one (so that Apple could avoid labor laws and paying their share of social security payroll tax). In our training we were told we were the face of Apple and that to the customer we *were* Apple (and to that point, we had to lie and say we worked in an Apple call center). We were not paid like we were Apple or the face of it.

 

[KPOM]

Unionization makes little sense for retail employees. These are high turnover entry-level positions.

 

[Glideslope]

Well, we now know which Apple Store has the worst service in the world.

We can expect to see sexual harassment and assault rise in that store too, once the abusers make friends with the right people in the union (or the union leaders themselves will do it, as we see in the UAW)

Yup. The beginning of the end of what little quality service was left at Apple Stores.

 

[efktd]

Yeah, one dude I knew earned his 10 year plaque as a Genius, he really wasn't too thrilled about it.

 

[HiVolt]

Yeah, one dude I knew earned his 10 year plaque as a Genius, he really wasn't too thrilled about it.

Not a genius in real life, is he?

 

[-BigMac-]

Lol

Won’t Apple just shut the store down? 😂🙋‍♂️

 

[lloyddean]

Don't see how the "Maryland Apple Store" can vote to Unionize as it's only the present employees that have voted to do so and not the store itˈself.

 

[KPOM]

What is the compensation structure at Apple Stores? Are they strictly hourly wages? Do they pay commissions for selling add-ons like AppleCare?

 

[DummyFool]

I predict this store will close for some reasons....

 

[miketcool]

What is the compensation structure at Apple Stores? Are they strictly hourly wages? Do they pay commissions for selling add-ons like AppleCare?

No commissions which is why the original model worked so well. The stores have fallen behind quite a bit and need a serious retooling if the experience is going to keep up with their image.

 

[marinersaptcomplex]

Somewhere, Angela Ahrendts is letting out the largest sigh of relief in human history.

 

[ww2_1943]

Unionization makes little sense for retail employees. These are high turnover entry-level positions.

Grocery stores in my state are union. I used to work in them during college and a few years after. While there was high turnover, there were people who made it a career. I was part of a meat cutters union , even though I worked in deli and seafood. I didn't appreciate it at the time, but as a part time worker I was actually eligible for no cost health insurance. It was a pretty decent plan too. They still have the same no employee cost plan today.

In another store I watched the union get a co-workers job back. They fired him after he couldn't show up for work because his kid was in the hospital! Insane stuff. That store was a nightmare.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

but I know Apple has left them out there like canon fodder in the middle of a pandemic while their corporate employees are only just starting to go back in person.

Apple paid the retail employees while the stories were closed by finding them other non-retail remote work to do. Not something they HAD to do, but just something they did. During the next closures, will the union pay their salaries? I guess it depends on their contract.

 

[bLackjackj]

More Apple stores may follow this. I wouldn’t be surprised but this seems like a bad move. Since Apple can easily close down this store and move its location. Thus, not having to deal with a union.

Actually its fantastic move for all the staff and offers greater protections. Apple will not close down the store, as they would face multiple lawsuits and bad publicity. They are a Public company at the end of the day.

 

[michaelsviews]

More Apple stores may follow this. I wouldn’t be surprised but this seems like a bad move. Since Apple can easily close down this store and move its location. Thus, not having to deal with a union.

If they shut down the store I believe they'd be somewhat responsible for relocating the employee's.
I maybe mistaken though

 

[dblissmn]

Wasnt there a better union to join than the "Machinists" union?

I'm no union expert especially not American ones, but isn't there some sort of retail workers union that could have better knowledge of retail store operations that could better represent Apple store workers?

With quite a lot of recent union drives in the US, it's been a matter of joining unions that do a better job of representing people, not necessarily joining a particular trade, from the standpoint of the employees, and keeping numbers up from the standpoint of the unions following the massive downsizing and off-shoring between about 2001 and 2010. Aside from the union here, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (which in British terms primarily represents fitters, mechanics, metal fabricators and so on in the airline, aircraft manufacturing, shipbuilding, railroad and other generally heavy industries), the United Steelworkers also has had a reputation for being effective, and they've also organized some places you wouldn't expect -- for example nurses and orderlies at previously non-union hospitals -- and absorbed some smaller unions that aren't in the steel industry, notably two major Canadian unions in the forestry and chemical industries.

 

[dblissmn]

My take on it is, if it's a good workplace, there probably won't be that much push to organize for a union unless management actively wants collective bargaining (occasionally happens with European employers), and if it isn't a good workplace, people will try to organize. You look at the steel industry in America and Nucor has long stood out for being non-union but it has also stood out for the executives not paying themselves excessively and not having fancy offices and at the same time leading the company to generally very successful results.