An employee is setting up Apple iPhones as a customer store at the Apple Store on 5th Avenue shortly after new products went on sale in Manhattan, New York City, March 18, 2022.
An Apple retail store in Cumberland Mall, Atlanta, Georgia, has filed a union election dossier, Communication Workers of America announced on Wednesday. The National Council for Labor Relations has confirmed that it has received the petition.
Cumberland Mall is the first Apple store in the United States to apply for union elections and is a key development in Apple’s efforts to unionize its retail workforce and bargain for better wages and benefits.
More than 70% of the store’s more than 100 eligible employees have expressed interest in joining the union, according to a press release. Organizers are demanding base salaries of $ 28 an hour, higher increases to offset inflation and profit-sharing options for retail employees, according to Bloomberg Law, which reported the first election.
If more than 50% of eligible workers could vote for the union, the store would become Apple’s first unionized retail store.
Cumberland Mall is looking for representation from Communication Workers of America. A separate New York store is seeking representation from Workers United and is now collecting signatures.
The Atlanta union effort is the latest example of workers expressing their power for better wages and working conditions. Workplace activism is growing across the country during an inflationary environment and as the Covid-19 pandemic has forced frontline workers to re-examine the risks and benefits of jobs.
Amazon workers voted to form a union at a Staten Island warehouse earlier this month. Starbucks locations across the country have been voting for unionization for the past month.
Apple employees’ salaries start at $ 20 an hour, an Apple spokesman told CNBC.
“We are excited to offer strong compensation and benefits for full-time and part-time employees, including health care, tuition reimbursement, parental leave, paid family leave, annual stock allowances and many other benefits,” said a carrier. Apple’s statement in a statement. .