(New York) Employees of the Apple store located in the legendary Grand Central station in New York have begun the process of forming a union, which would be a first for a store of the company in the United States, according to a website launched by these employees.
Posted at 2:04 p.m.
Updated at 4:59 p.m.
Under the banner “Fruit Stand Workers United” (FSWU), this group has started collecting signatures: it must convince at least 30% of the store’s employees to officially request the organization of a vote approving or rejecting the creation of a union in the establishment.
In February, they joined the organization Workers United, a banner under which several Starbucks coffee shops have organized themselves in recent months, itself affiliated with the powerful service sector union SEIU.
Workers United confirmed to AFP the membership of Apple workers.
“Like so many campaigns in recent times, this one was initiated, and is driven, by the workers themselves,” not by a traditional union, the organization said in a message.
“We recognize the immense bravery and courage these workers are showing in defending their rights, and we will support them every step of the way.”
On the FWSU website, the initiators of the movement point out that “Grand Central is an extraordinary store with unique working conditions that make a union necessary to guarantee our team the best possible standard of living in what has proven to be an extraordinary period between the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and unprecedented price inflation for our generation.”
In particular, they want to be paid at least 30 dollars an hour and more paid holidays.
The group explains that it wants to protect the identity of the workers who launched the initiative for the time being.
According to washington postwhich cites employees wishing to remain anonymous for fear of losing their jobs, employees of at least three other Apple stores in the country are in the process of organizing.
The Californian company did not immediately respond to a request from AFP.
If successful, Apple would join Starbucks and Amazon on the list of multinationals currently facing an organizing campaign in the United States.
After the creation of a union in two Starbucks cafes in December in Buffalo, in the north of the country, employees of more than 160 establishments of the chain have since filed files for the organization of a vote.
At Amazon, the employees of a New York warehouse created a surprise in early April by voting by majority in favor of the creation of a union, a first for the group in the United States.
Employees of another warehouse, located across the street, must vote at the end of April to join the same union, Amazon Labor Union.
And on Monday, the agency responsible for overseeing labor law in the country, NLRB, said it had received enough signatures to organize an election at a warehouse in Bayonne, New Jersey, employing about 200 workers. They will vote whether or not to join the International Brotherhood of the Trade Union.