Skip to main content

A third Apple store is looking to unionize

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Employees at a third Apple retail store have announced that they’re trying to organize a vote on whether to unionize, according to a report from The Washington Post. Workers at Apple’s Towson Town Center store in Maryland say that they’ve received signatures from a majority of the employees that would likely be able to join a union, and are planning on filing with the National Labor Relations Board to schedule an election.

In a letter, the organizers say their union is called the “Coalition of Organized Retail Employees” (or AppleCORE), and say they’re not trying to “go against or create conflict with” Apple management. Instead, the workers say they want to gain access to rights they currently don’t have. While they don’t specify which ones in the letter or a press release, The Washington Post reports employees saying they want a voice when it comes to determining their pay, hours, and coronavirus safety. In the letter, the workers ask Tim Cook to voluntarily recognize the union, saying they have the support of “a solid majority” of their coworkers.

If Apple doesn’t voluntarily recognize the union, the next step for AppleCORE would be petitioning the NLRB to hold an election. If the regulator agrees that there’s been a sufficient showing of interest, Apple and the union will have to determine who would be eligible to join the union (and therefore who will be able to vote), and decide a date for the election. This can either happen voluntarily or after an NLRB hearing.

Earlier on Tuesday, Apple agreed to schedule a union vote on June 2nd with workers at another retail store in Atalanta. Employees in New York have also started collecting signatures to hold a union vote.

It’s not just retail workers pushing back on Apple’s policies. A group known as Apple Together recently published a letter protesting the company’s return to office plan for corporate employees, which will eventually implement a hybrid schedule of three days in the office and two “flexible” days where employees can work remotely.

The letter, which you can read in full here, takes issues with several of Apple’s claims about limiting options for remote work. Its authors say that Apple’s heavily siloed structure makes it hard to “serendipitously” run into colleagues, that the company’s insistence on keeping employees at offices will hurt diversity, and that commutes eat into employees’ productivity. Most importantly, the letter says, Apple’s employees can’t make products that will delight customers who are trying to work remotely if they don’t have experience with doing so themselves. It concludes by asking Apple’s management to be as flexible with remote work as its employees have been over the pandemic.

At this point, labor organization at Apple seems to be the work of several independent groups, rather than something driven by a singular force (as is the case with, say, Starbucks). The retail stores are looking to partner with different established unions — Atlanta is organizing with the Communications Workers of America, New York with Workers United, and the workers in Maryland with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.

The workers also have varied demands, though they’re along the same lines — workers in New York are asking for a $30 minimum wage at the store, while Atlanta’s pay demands are for “transparency around pay inequality, cost of living adjustments, and real living wages.” You can read the full list of demands from New York here, and from Atlanta here.



Source: The Verge

Popular posts from this blog

The hidden cost of food delivery

Noah Lichtenstein Contributor Share on Twitter Noah Lichtenstein is the founder and managing partner of Crossover , a diversified private technology fund backed by institutional investors, technology execs and professional athletes and entertainers. More posts by this contributor What Studying Students Teaches Us About Great Apps I’ll admit it: When it comes to food, I’m lazy. There are dozens of great dining options within a few blocks of my home, yet I still end up ordering food through delivery apps four or five times per week. With the growing coronavirus pandemic closing restaurants and consumers self-isolating, it is likely we will see a spike in food delivery much like the 20% jump China reported during the peak of its crisis. With the food delivery sector rocketing toward a projected $365 billion by the end of the decade, I’m clearly not the only one turning to delivery apps even before the pandemic hit. Thanks to technology (and VC funding) we can get a ri

Cyber Monday Canada: Last-minute deals for everyone on your list

Best Cyber Monday Canada deals: Smart Home Audio Phones, Tablets & Accessories Wearables Laptops & PC Components Amazon products Gaming Televisions Cameras Lifestyle & Kitchen Toys & Kids Cyber Monday Canada is here, and retailers are rolling out the red carpet for customers who want to shop for everything from tech to kitchenware to games and everything in between. Unlike years past, Cyber Monday Canada deals look a bit different than normal. Instead of retailers trying to pack their stores with as many shoppers as possible, we're seeing tons of online deals that you can take advantage of from the comfort of your home. We've rounded up our favorites below, so feel free to browse through the best of what Canada Cyber Monday has to offer! This list is being updated with new Cyber Monday deals all the time, so check back often. Spotlight deals It's a Switch Nintendo Switch Fortnite Edition bundle $399.95 at Amazon It's a Switch.

Slack’s new integration deal with AWS could also be about tweaking Microsoft

Slack and Amazon announced a big integration late yesterday afternoon. As part of the deal, Slack will use Amazon Chime for its call feature, while reiterating its commitment to use AWS as its preferred cloud provider to run its infrastructure. At the same time, AWS has agreed to use Slack for internal communications. Make no mistake, this is a big deal as the SaaS communications tool increases its ties with AWS, but this agreement could also be about slighting Microsoft and its rival Teams product by making a deal with a cloud rival. In the past Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield has had choice words for Microsoft saying the Redmond technology giant sees his company as an “existential threat.” Whether that’s true or not — Teams is but one piece of a huge technology company — it’s impossible not to look at the deal in this context. Aligning more deeply with AWS sends a message to Microsoft, whose Azure infrastructure services compete with AWS. Butterfield didn’t say that of course

iPhone 13 Pro vs. iPhone 15 Pro Buyer's Guide: 50+ Differences Compared

The iPhone 15 Pro brings over 50 new features and improvements to Apple's high-end smartphones compared to the iPhone 13 Pro, which was released two years prior. This buyer's guide breaks down every major difference you should be aware of between the two generations and helps you to decide whether it's worth upgrading. The ‌iPhone 13‌ Pro debuted in 2021, introducing a brighter display with ProMotion technology for refresh rates up to 120Hz, the A15 Bionic chip, a telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom, Macro photography and photographic styles, Cinematic mode for recording videos with shallow depth of field, ProRes video recording, a 1TB storage option, and five hours of additional battery life. The ‌iPhone 13‌ Pro was discontinued upon the announcement of the iPhone 14 Pro in 2022, but it is still possible to get hold of it second-hand. Our guide helps to answer the question of how to decide which of these two iPhone models is best for you and serves as a way to c