Maryland Apple workers face hurdles after vote to unionize

Customers pick up online orders at the Apple Store at the Towson Town Center, Dec. 15, 2020, in Towson, Md. Apple store employees in the Baltimore suburb voted to unionize by a nearly 2-to-1 margin on Saturday, June 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, file)


https://apnews.com/article/technology-apple-inc-national-labor-relations-board-amazoncom-maryland-834d346b150fdf540db56ff6ccd401a0

TOWSON, Md. (AP) — The historic vote by employees of a Maryland Apple store to unionize — a first for the technology giant — is a significant step in a lengthy process that labor experts say is heavily stacked against workers in favor of their employers.

Apple store employees in a Baltimore suburb voted to unionize by a nearly 2-to-1 margin Saturday, joining a growing push across U.S. retail, service and tech industries to organize for greater workplace protections.

It’s not yet clear whether the recent wave of unionizations represent a broader shift in U.S. labor. But experts say the current shortage of workers for hourly and low-wage jobs means employees have more power than they had historically, especially when unemployment is low.

“It’s not that big a deal to lose one of these jobs because you can get another crummy job,” said Ruth Milkman, labor scholar at the City University of New York.

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