Apple Bethesda, Maryland. (Supply: Apple)
The Communication Employees of America says that over 70% of Maryland’s Apple Bethesda retail and restore workers have filed for a union election with the Nationwide Labor Relations Board.
Following the Communication Employees of America (CWA) attaining its first collective-bargained contract with Apple for the Apple Oklahoma Metropolis retailer, it’s now working with Apple Bethesda. Based on the CWA, over 70% of the shop’s 59 staff have signed union authorization playing cards.
“We’re honored to welcome the workers at the Bethesda Row Apple store in Maryland as members of CWA,” mentioned Johnny Brown, President of CWA Native 2108. “Increasingly more and more workers… are exercising their right to organize, bringing greater protections to union members in the tech and video game industry.”
“In the past, we’ve seen Apple choose to undermine its employees’ right to organize,” continued Brown. “We call on Apple to change course, live up to its credo, and respect workers’ right to form a union.”
The CWA says that Apple has labored with anti-union consultants and “deployed aggressive, sometimes illegal, tactics” to stop workers becoming a member of unions.
“It has been inspiring to see our colleagues in Oklahoma City and Towson organize and win better working conditions and job protections at the bargaining table,” Peter Cascio, described as an Operations Specialist at Apple, mentioned within the CWA’s assertion. “Their efforts have made it clear that a union is not only better for workers, but better for the company.”
“My colleagues and I at the Apple Bethesda Row store in Maryland care deeply about our jobs and want to secure the transparency, pay, benefits, and job stability that we deserve,” he continued.
Individually, the Nationwide Labor Relations Board has beforehand dominated that Apple should stop and desist its anti-union actions. In 2022, an Apple anti-union briefing doc was leaked after being circulated to retail retailer managers.
Apple has not commented on the CWA’s announcement in regards to the Apple Bethesda retailer. Nonetheless, additionally in 2022, Apple’s retail chief Deirdre O’Brien decried all unionization efforts in a video despatched to workers.
“I worry about what it would mean to put another organization in the middle of our relationship,” she mentioned. “An organization that doesn’t have a deep understanding of Apple or our business, and most importantly, one that I do not believe shares our commitment to you.”
That video was circulated in Might 2022. In November of that yr, one Apple retail employee was reported as saying that complaining about situations is as efficient as “writing to Santa.”