Apple Store employees in Maryland vote to unionize

Employees at the Apple Store in Maryland have voted to join a union. The Coalition of Organized Retail Employees said that workers voted overwhelmingly in favor of joining theIAM. The store is on the verge of becoming the first unionized Apple store in the US.

We did it Towson! We won our union vote! Thanks to all who worked so hard and all who supported! Now we celebrate with @machinistsunion. Tomorrow we keep organizing. 

#unionizeapple #1u

The first Apple Store in the US to hold a union election happened after workers at another store in Atlanta withdrew their petition. While Apple hasn't come out against its frontline workers organizing, the company has been accused of using union busting tactics Workers were subjected to "captive audience meetings" when it hired the same anti-union law firm that Starbucks uses. The company's Cumberland Mall location in Georgia had a union vote called off. AppleCore said it was organizing out of a deep love of its role as workers in the company and out of care for the company itself.

Apple didn't want to say anything.

Robert Martinez Jr., president of the International Association of Firefighters, applauded the courage shown by the members at the Apple store. Thousands of Apple employees across the nation had all eyes on the election. I want Tim Cook to respect the results of the election and fast-track the first contract for the dedicated Apple employees in Baltimore. The growing demand for unions is shown by this victory.

Today's vote is likely to bolster ongoing unionization efforts at two Apple Stores in New York and Kentucky, but if recent history is any indication, a domino effect isn't guaranteed. One month after the Amazon Labor Union led workers at Amazon's JFK8 warehouse in Staten Island to a historic labor win, the group failed to achieve the same result.