The first-ever U.S. union election at an Apple (AAPL) retail store is slated for early June.
Apple retail workers in Atlanta released a statement in the aftermath of filing for a union election. Those workers, who are all at Apple’s Cumberland Mall location in Atlanta, are situated in the wake of the Amazon (AMZN) Labor Union’s historic victory about a month ago – and they’ve been inspired by that, said Sydney Rhodes, a worker and union member.
“Last year, there weren’t many people who were talking about creating a union or anything of that nature,” said Rhodes. “So, to see what we’ve been working on, that other people are working on it and that their efforts are being recognized, it’s inspiring. It’s given us hope that something’s possible.”
There are 107 workers at Apple’s Cumberland Mall location in Atlanta who are eligible to vote in the election. The election will take place on June 3, 4, and 5, according to Beth Allen, communications director at Communications Workers of America (CWA).
CWA is representing the Atlanta Apple workers, who are asking for things like fair and transparent compensation practices, career development opportunities, diversity commitments, and parity with corporate employees when it comes to things like compensation
“The people that work in our store can’t even afford to live within a 10 to 15 mile radius of where we work,” said Rhodes. “Apple’s about decreasing its carbon footprint, but employees have to either take a bus or drive a half-hour to an hour to get to work.”
“We want to sit across the table and help make decisions, because ultimately there are people making calls for retail who’ve just never worked in retail,” she added.
The Amazon-Starbucks effect
Though the Amazon Labor Union recently lost its second election in Staten Island, workers across the country are still charging forward. Workers in Rhodes’ store have been discussing unionizing for about a year. She’s noticed a massive sea change in public opinion that’s tied to not only Amazon, but union efforts at Starbucks (SBUX).
Though Apple and Amazon are intuitively connected as tech giants, Apple retail workers as a whole (including those who are organizing in Atlanta) ultimately have a lot in common with Starbucks employees, Allen told Yahoo Finance.
“I think [the union and Apple] were generally in agreement on who should be in the bargaining unit, though often employers contest that,” she said. “We’ve seen that happening a lot at Activision Blizzard (ATVI), where we’re also organizing, but at this retail store, it’s pretty clear cut who’s the supervisor and who’s not.”
Ultimately, for Rhodes and her colleagues, unionizing reflects their commitment to Apple, she said.
“We love our jobs, and we love our company,” Rhodes told Yahoo Finance. “We love everything about it, but we also know that Apple is a company that’s about being progressive and being a leader.”
Allie Garfinkle is a senior tech reporter at Yahoo Finance. Find her on twitter @agarfinks.
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