After Amazonaround’Apple – also very refractory – to see the birth of a first union, in one of its Apple Stores. On June 18, the employees of the Towson store, in the suburbs of Baltimore (Maryland) answered the call. Two-thirds of the 100 employees voted for the creation of a union, affiliated with the International Association of Machinists and Aeronautical Workers (IAM).
“I applaud the courage shown by the employees of the Towson Apple Store to achieve this historic victory. They made an enormous sacrifice for the thousands of Apple employees across the country, who had their eyes on this election, IAM President Robert Martinez Jr. said after the ballot. In addition to aeronautics, this union brings together workers from the defence, airline, railway, transport, health and automotive sectors.
discourage initiatives
The Towson union is making demands relating to the organization of working hours, wages and working conditions.
Apple recently raised the hourly wage to $22. The company also offers its employees health insurance, reimbursement of tuition fees, paid parental leave, as well as shares. Apple has 270 branches in UNITED STATESwhich employ some 65,000 people, representing just under half of Apple’s total workforce in the country.
The company has put the means to try to discourage union impulses. The Verge reports that last month, HRD sent a video to Apple Store employees explaining the downsides of unionizing. As Amazon, the company values above all the direct relationship between management and employees. In summary, the message is: who better than us to meet your needs? Apple would also provided anti-union language to its managers according to Vice, and hired lawyers to fight attempts at unionizing.
retreat to atlanta
In an Apple Store in Atlanta, Georgia, which is also trying to set up a trade union branchemployees denounced intimidation, reports Bloomberg. According to the New York Times Quoted by TechCrunchmore than twenty Apple Stores, including that of Grand Central in New York, would be engaged in a process of union organization.
In Europe, the situation is very different since unions already exist in Apple Stores. At Apple Retail France, the first representative organization is the CFTC, followed by the CFDT and the CGT.
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