Workers at an Apple store in Atlanta have withdrawn their request for a union vote just days before it was set to take place, citing alleged intimidation by the tech giant, reports say.
Retail staff at the Cumberland Mall Apple store were scheduled to vote on June 2 on whether or not they wanted to be represented by the CWA. They are dropping the bid for unionization in tandem with the claims from the CWA that Apple's repeated violations of the National Labor Relations Act have made a free and fair election impossible.
An overwhelming majority of the workers at the Cumberland Mall Store announced that they were forming a union in April and requested recognition from the company, according to a CWA representative.
More than 70% of the workers at the store were eligible to sign union cards when they filed for a union election in April. The first unionized Apple store would have been in the US.
News reports have pointed to allegations of anti-union tactics by Apple.
The leaked audio recordings show that Apple's senior vice president of retail and people is concerned about unionizing.
I worry about what it would mean to put another organization in the middle of our relationship, an organization that does not have a deep understanding of Apple or our business, and most importantly, one that I do not believe shares our commitment to you.
Vice reported in May that Apple sent a script of talking points to store managers.
In addition to Atlanta, Apple stores in Maryland and Kentucky have also begun the process of unionization.
According to a memo seen by The Wall Street Journal, the tech giant has raised base pay for retail workers from $20 to $22 per hour. The raise comes at a time when the labor market is hot and inflation is rising.
Representatives for Apple and CWA did not respond to Insider's requests for comment.
Are you an Apple retail worker? If you want to speak to this reporter, email him at sjackson@insider.com.
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