Maryland Apple workers face hurdles after vote to unionise

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

The historic vote by employees of a Maryland Apple store to unionise — a first for the technology giant — is a significant step in a lengthy process that labor experts say is heavily stacked against workers in favour of their employers.

(Sign up to our Technology newsletter, Today’s Cache, for insights on emerging themes at the intersection of technology, business and policy. Click here to subscribe for free.)

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

It's not yet clear whether the recent wave of unionisations 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, labour scholar at the City University of New York.

The question is, what happens now?

The Apple retail workers in Towson, Maryland, voted 65-33 to seek entry into the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, the union's announcement said. The National Labor Relations Board now has to certify the outcome. A spokesperson referred initial queries about the vote to the board's regional office, which was closed late Saturday. The board did not immediately respond to an Associated Press message on Sunday.