BALTIMORE — On Saturday, June 18th, Apple workers at the Towson Town Center voted 65-33 to join The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), effectively becoming the first Apple Store workers in America to unionize.
The name of this union is The Coalition of Organized Retail Employees (or AppleCore) and consists of 110 Apple Store employees.
The workers are hoping that this action will send a message to all of the corporations in the country that a change is coming and nothing can stop it.
In May, the employees sent a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook, telling him their intentions to unionize and that they want more “information and collective bargaining” rights.
In an interview with WBAL, seven-year Apple employee Chaya Barrett said, “We’re literally the face of Apple. How is it fair that we are being dictated as to what to do, what to say, how to act when we don’t get any say in the things that are happening every day in our lives.”
The decision recently caught the attention of President Joe Biden, who commented, “I’m proud of them. Look, you know, workers have the right to determine what conditions they’re going to work or not.”
This moment follows a massive wave of labor activism spreading across the United States.
Back in the Spring, an Amazon warehouse in New York decided to unionize, along with multiple Starbucks stores making the move to unionize.
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