The employees of an Atlanta store of the firm at the apple have officially requested the organization of a vote on the creation or not of a union. If the “yes” won, it would be a first for the company in the United States. At least three other Apple stores would also organize themselves in this direction. A wave of unionization that Starbucks and Amazon are also experiencing.

cks and Amazon, will it soon have its union of employees? In any case, this is what they want. Backed by the communications industry union CWA, a group of employees organized themselves as the “Apple Retail Union” and filed a case with the country’s labor law agency (the NLRB ).

The agency confirmed to AFP that it had received a request. Its leaders must now verify that at least 30% of store employees have supported the procedure. The CWA union says in a press release that more than 70% of the hundred employees concerned have signed a charter to this effect.

If the organization of the ballot is validated and the majority of voters agree to be represented by Apple Retail Union, it would be the first union created within an Apple group store in the United States.

Similar initiatives in other Apple stores
Initiatives, still at the preliminary stage, have also been launched in other stores. According to the Washington Post, citing employees wishing to remain anonymous for fear of losing their jobs, employees of at least three other Apple stores in the country are in the process of organizing.

Among them, the one located in the mythical Grand Central station in New York, where employees began to organize under the banner “Fruit Stand Workers United” (FSWU, the united workers of the fruit stand). This group has begun to collect signatures: it must also convince at least 30% of the store’s employees to officially request the organization of a vote approving or rejecting the creation of a union in the establishment.

In February, they joined the organization Workers United, a banner under which several Starbucks coffee shops have organized themselves in recent months, itself affiliated with the powerful service sector union SEIU. “Like so many campaigns in recent times, this one was initiated and is led by the workers themselves”, not by a traditional union, Workers United stressed, adding that they would support the workers of Apple at every step.

On the FWSU website, the initiators of the movement point out that “Grand Central is an extraordinary store with unique working conditions that make a union necessary to guarantee our team the best possible standard of living in what has proven to be an extraordinary period between the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and unprecedented price inflation for our generation.” In particular, they want to be paid at least 30 dollars an hour and more paid holidays.

Similar initiatives in other Apple stores
Initiatives, still at the preliminary stage, have also been launched in other stores. According to the Washington Post, citing employees wishing to remain anonymous for fear of losing their jobs, employees of at least three other Apple stores in the country are in the process of organizing.

Among them, the one located in the mythical Grand Central station in New York, where employees began to organize under the banner “Fruit Stand Workers United” (FSWU, the united workers of the fruit stand). This group has begun to collect signatures: it must also convince at least 30% of the store’s employees to officially request the organization of a vote approving or rejecting the creation of a union in the establishment.

In February, they joined the organization Workers United, a banner under which several Starbucks coffee shops have organized themselves in recent months, itself affiliated with the powerful service sector union SEIU. “Like so many campaigns in recent times, this one was initiated and is led by the workers themselves”, not by a traditional union, Workers United stressed, adding that they would support the workers of Apple at every step.

On the FWSU website, the initiators of the movement point out that “Grand Central is an extraordinary store with unique working conditions that make a union necessary to guarantee our team the best possible standard of living in what has proven to be an extraordinary period between the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and unprecedented price inflation for our generation.” In particular, they want to be paid at least 30 dollars an hour and more paid holidays.

Organizing campaign in the United States
This organizing campaign is not unique to Apple. It has also been found for several weeks at Starbucks and Amazon, where unions have already been created. Indeed, after the creation of a union in two Starbucks cafes in December in Buffalo, in the north of the country, employees of more than 160 establishments of the chain filed files for the organization of a vote.

At Amazon, the employees of a New York warehouse created a surprise in early April by voting by majority in favor of the creation of a union, a first for the group in the United States. Employees of another warehouse, located across the street, must vote at the end of April to join the same union, Amazon Labor Union.

Separately, the agency responsible for overseeing labor law in the United States said earlier this week that it had received enough signatures to organize an election at a warehouse in Bayonne, New Jersey, employing around 200 workers. employees. They will vote whether or not to join the International Brotherhood of the Trade Union.
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