Employees of the Apple Store located in Grand Central in Manhattan, one of the largest in the company, are seeking to unionize. A first for the apple brand which is part of a broad movement of American workers.
Best salaries and benefits for Apple Store employees
Earlier this year, the relevant Apple Store organizing committee, made up of about 10% of the store’s workers at the time, voted to affiliate with the national union Workers United. The employees are now preparing to vote in favor or not of their unionization. “ Grand Central is an extraordinary store with unique working conditions that make a union necessary to provide our team with the best possible standard of living in what has proven to be an extraordinary time with the Covid-19 pandemic and inflation of one-of-a-kind consumer price “says the group on its website.
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Through their unionization, Apple Store employees hope to obtain greater benefits, such as better tuition, more accessible holidays and better retirement options. Above all, they want to increase their salary to a minimum of 30 dollars per hour; currently, Apple store employees can earn anywhere from $17 to over $30 per hour, depending on experience.
Workers say their pay should reflect their employer’s turnover, with Apple being the most valuable company in the world, having generated $366 billion in revenue in 2021. The union needs 30% of the 270 eligible employees from the Grand Central site to be able to apply to the National Labor Relations Board, a key step before filing a union petition. The employees who formed the group declare:
” When [Apple] decides our compensation, the benefits we receive, the career plans we have access to and the safety of our workplace, we want to have a say. Working with a union will give us the legal right to be represented in all matters of employment, leave, working conditions and compensation. These are the factors that determine the quality of our lives, our ability to build and raise healthy and happy families, and the trajectory of our movement in the world. These decisions determine, in large part, what we can become. They should belong to us. They should belong to us”.
Apple is discreet
” We are blessed with amazing members of the retail team and deeply appreciate all that they bring to Apple. We are pleased to offer very strong compensation and benefits for full-time and part-time employees, including health care, tuition reimbursement, new parental leave, paid family leave, annual grants of shares and many other benefits said an Apple spokesperson.
As Engadget reports, some employees involved in the organizing efforts say the Cupertino company is engaging in tactics of ” union dismantling in particular by disseminating messages aimed at convincing workers that unionization is against their interests.
Yet, in addition to the Grand Central store, at least three other Apple Stores are also in the early stages of their attempt to unionize. As a reminder, Apple has 154,000 employees worldwide and no less than 270 stores in the United States alone.
Employees of three other American Apple Stores want to unionize. Photography: Emanuel Ekström / Unsplash
Many American workers are interested in unionization
The aspiration of Apple employees to unionize is part of a much larger movement across the Atlantic, notably initiated by the Covid-19 pandemic and the extreme dependence on essential workers, who are often disadvantaged in terms of wages and advantages. The ensuing economic crisis directly affects these people. ” Hourly workers across the country have found that if they don’t organize to speak out collectively, employers will continue to ignore their concerns in the workplace. ,” Workers United said in a statement.
Three weeks ago, the employees of a New York warehouse of Amazon also made the decision to unionize, a step not appreciated by the giant of e-commerce. In addition, more and more employees at Starbucks are unionizing with Workers United, the union that Apple employees want to join.
The tech sector is therefore no exception to the trend; Google employees also created the company’s very first union in early 2021, it is called the Alphabet Workers Union.