Tech giant Apple has been a vocal opponent of unionizing, but that didn’t discourage the employees at the Apple store in Towson, Maryland. The store has become the first to join the union after 65 workers out of 110 eligible voted in favor of unionizing on Saturday. The employees formed the Coalition of Organized Retail Employees and will be unionized through the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers trade union.
Towson store employees previously explained their wish to unionize by saying they want more input on how the company handles work policies.
“To be clear, the decision to form a union is about us as workers gaining access to rights that we do not currently have,” said the organizers.
While the store in Towson is far from being a key retail location for Apple, the successful unionizing could send a ripple effect through the company’s network. Several stores are also attempting to start the process at the moment, including various stores in New York City, Louisville, and Nashville.
One store in Atlanta was previously close to unionizing, with the majority of 100 employees signing union authorization cards. However, the organizers later backed out of the process, saying that Apple used “union-busting” tactics to discourage their efforts.