An Apple Store's Workers Just Successfully Voted to Unionize

CNN reports that Apple workers in Towson, Maryland have voted to form the first-ever labor union at one of Apple's U.S. stores:The landmark union election concluded on Saturday evening with 65 workers voting for the unionization and 33 against it, a nearly two-to-one margin in favor of the union, according to a preliminary tally from the National Labor Relations Board. The victory for union organizers at the Apple store in the Towson Town Center, a mall near Baltimore, comes amid a broader wave of workplace activism that has emerged in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. The US labor market has tipped much more strongly in favor of workers over the past two years. There are now roughly twice as many job openings as there are unemployed people looking for work, leaving employers scrambling to fill jobs... That has made employees who are dissatisfied with their jobs more willing to demand better working conditions, including through unionization. The major issue driving the organizing vote was workers wanting to have a say in the way the store is run, said Christie Pridgen, a technical expert at the store and one of the organizers. Pridgen, 34, said she's worked at the store for more than 8 years. "Compensation is important, considering the cost of living in general and inflation, but the bigger thing is having a say," she told CNN Business Saturday night after the vote. "That was the most important thing to me." Pridgen said workers having a say in hours and scheduling and being involved in establishing safety protocols during the pandemic were the big issues. "We wanted a say in the policies that affect our lives," she said, adding that she wasn't surprised by the outcome of the vote, but was relieved. "I knew I wasn't alone in being frustrated," she said. "An Apple spokesperson declined to comment on the vote."

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