Workers at an Apple store in Maryland have voted to unionise, forming the tech giant's first retail union in the United States.
The employees of the shop in Towson passed the measure
65-33, with about a dozen abstentions.
After the result came in, the group tweeted: "Now we
celebrate… tomorrow we keep organising."
It is the third Apple store to launch a union drive this
year, but the first to successfully hold a vote.
The new Apple Core union - short for the Coalition of
Organized Retail Employees - penned an open letter to Apple in May, saying its
bid was "about us as workers gaining access to rights that we do not
currently have", but that it did not want to "go against or create
conflict with our management".
Other Apple stores in Atlanta and New York, have also made moves toward unionisation. Staff in Atlanta, however, have delayed their planned ballot, with the union involved - the Communications Workers of America - alleging anti-union activity by the company.
Unions are less common in the US than in many European
countries, but are still protected in law. Forming one involves either the
company voluntarily recognising a union, or workers gathering signatures from
at least 30% of employees so that the National Labour
Relations Board (NLRB) can hold a formal election.
News outlets have alleged that Apple has hired a law firm
known for its union expertise, and collated "talking
points" for its management teams to dissuade employees from
signing up to one.
In April, Motherboard released an audio
recording of retail vice president Deirdre O'Brien telling
employees that while she recognised the right to join a union, "it's
equally your right not to join a union".
"I'm worried about what it would mean to put another
organization in the middle of our relationship, an organization that does not
have a deep understanding of Apple or our business," the released audio
says.
The employees in Towson had the backing of a
long-established union, the International Association of Machinists and
Aerospace Workers. Its president, Robert Martinez Jr, congratulated the Apple
employees on what he called a "historic victory".
"They made a huge sacrifice for thousands of Apple
employees across the nation who had all eyes on this election," he said.
"This victory shows the growing demand for unions at
Apple stores and different industries across our nation."
Apple told the AFP news agency it was declining to comment
on the vote, which still has to be officially certified by the NLRB.
The Towson store's union is the latest in a string of
high-profile union campaigns in the US.
In December, a successful campaign in New York saw Starbucks employees form their first union at the coffee chain in
decades, which has sparked similar campaigns across many of the
company's individual stores.
And in April, Amazon saw 55% of workers at a New York warehouse vote in favour
of unionisation - though Amazon is disputing that ballot
and appealing for a re-run.
Source:BBC