A man uses his mobile phone near the Apple store logo in Beijing.
Ng Han Guan / AP
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Ng Han Guan / AP
A man uses his mobile phone near the Apple store logo in Beijing.
Ng Han Guan / AP
Employees at an Apple store in suburban Maryland have begun to unite, organizers announced Tuesday. They join two other retailers in a bid to merge in the tech company.
Retail workers at Towson Mall in Towson, Maryland, founded CORE, the Coalition of Organized Retail Employees. They sent a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook saying that the majority of employees at the store support unionization.
“We’re at the forefront of the Apple experience,” the employees said. “As the face of Apple, we have a responsibility to show up every day to do the best work of our lives.”
In the letter, retail employees asked Cook not to engage in tactics of union sabotage.
“This is something we don’t [do] to go against or create conflict within our management,” the letter reads. Instead, we came together as a union out of a deep love for our role as employees in the company and a concern for the company itself. “
Apple told The Washington Post“We’re fortunate to have incredible members of the retail team, and we deeply appreciate everything they bring to Apple. We’re delighted to offer exceptional compensation and benefits to Apple’s customers. full-time and part-time employees, including healthcare, tuition reimbursement, new parents’ leave, paid leave, annual stock allowance, and more.”
CORE has partnered with the International Association of Aerospace Engineers and Workers, a union representing approximately 600,000 employees in the aerospace, defense, transportation and healthcare industries.
Employees in Cumberland Malloutside of Atlanta, became the first group of Apple retail employees to unite in April.
They were followed by retail employees at Apple’s Grand Central Station location in New York City. Those employees have partnered with Union Company, a union that has partnered with employees at several Starbucks locations on their consolidation efforts.
Grand Central Station employees are asking for at least $30 an hour, a higher tuition reimbursement amount, and a higher matching rate for retirement.
