TOWSON, Md. — Greater than 100 employees of an Apple store in a suburb of Baltimore voted to unionize by a virtually 2-to-1 margin Saturday, joining a growing US push across tech, retail and repair industries to prepare for greater workplace protections, a union said.
The employees in Towson, Maryland, voted by a 65-33 margin to hunt entry into the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Employees, the union’s announcement said. The vote final result couldn’t immediately be confirmed with the National Labor Relations Board, which might need to certify the final result and didn’t immediately answer messages.
The union and the staff intent on organizing said they sent Apple CEO Tim Cook notice last month that they were in search of to prepare a union. The statement said their driving motivation was to hunt “rights we don’t currently have.”
“I applaud the courage displayed by CORE members on the Apple store in Towson for achieving this historic victory,” said IAM International President Robert Martinez Jr. within the statement. “They made an enormous sacrifice for hundreds of Apple employees across the nation who had all eyes on this election.”
Messages left with Apple’s press office and with an NLRB spokeswoman weren’t immediately returned late Saturday.
Martinez called on Apple to respect the election results and to let the unionizing employees fast-track efforts to secure a contract on the Towson location. “This victory shows the growing demand for unions at Apple stores and different industries across our nation,” he said within the statement.
Also referred to as IAM, the union bills itself as one among the biggest and most diverse industrial trade unions in North America, representing roughly 600,000 energetic and retired members within the aerospace, defense, airlines, railroad, transit, healthcare, automotive, and other industries.
