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Apple’s Oklahoma City Stores Come In Second To Consolidate After Voting


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Apple Inc retail employees. at a store in Oklahoma City voted to merge, expanding the workforce at the world’s most valuable company and enhancing growth prospects further in other cities.

The US National Labor Relations Board counted the ballots Friday night from an election held among employees at shop, located in the city’s upscale Penn Square Mall. Employees voted to join Communications Workers of America, making their store the second to consolidate among about 270 Apple stores in the United States. The number of votes in favor was 56 votes in favor and 32 votes against.

CWA’s victory comes after a vote in June by employees at a Maryland store to join another labor group – the International Association of Machinists – marked one of several ground-breaking victories of the year. There were no unions in US companies now.

Labor organizers have also infiltrated Amazon.com Inc., Trader Joe’s and Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. — as well as Starbucks Corp., where union quickly spread from an initial victory in Buffalo, New York, to hundreds of successful votes around the country exemplified how winning incentives can be. how.

In response to the Oklahoma City vote, Apple said it believes an “open, direct, and collaborative relationship” with employees is the best way to “deliver a great experience for customers and for the team.” our team.”

“We are proud to offer our team members high compensation and exceptional benefits,” the company said. “Since 2018, we’ve increased our U.S. start rate by 45%, and we’ve made significant improvements to our industry-leading benefits, including educational programs and support the new family.”

As well as the Machinists victory in Towson, Maryland, the vote in Oklahoma could quickly attract the attention of Apple employees who have privately discussed holding elsewhere. The fact that the effort was successful in a state of deep red, which has a union ratio of only about half the US average, underscores the campaign’s potential for nationwide spread.

Patrick Hart, a leader in the Oklahoma City campaign, said he now wants to advise other Apple stores on how to organize.

“I want this to be a labor movement,” he said. “We will become the catalyst for everyone.”

With the merger of the two stores, it will be more difficult for Apple to maintain the status quo, said Epstein Becker & Green Attorney Steven Swirsky.

“If I lose one, it can make me nervous,” says Swirsky, who advises companies on how to avoid consolidation. “If you lose more than one, then it starts to get inexplicable.”

Victory in Oklahoma City was a turning point for the CWA as they took on Apple and competed with Machinists to organize the company. The group has said that it is in contact with Apple store employees across the country and has filed a petition to merge at two locations: the Oklahoma location and one in Atlanta. In the second case, the union withdrew its petition to vote a week before the scheduled vote, citing Apple’s alleged misconduct.

At the Oklahoma City store — one of two Apple locations in the state — employees said they built an organizer of about 20 people and enrolled 70% of the workforce within five days of applying. for this week’s vote.

The company has clearly expressed its opposition to the union. Apple warned against putting “another organization in the middle of our relationship” in a spring video message to employees. In that keynote, Senior Vice President Deirdre O’Brien described the union as “an organization that has no deep understanding of Apple or our business, and most importantly, an organization that I don’t know very well about Apple or our business.” do not believe will share our commitment with you.”

The Cupertino, California-based company also increased employee benefits and pay this year, potentially cutting union cases. In May, Apple said it was increasing the national minimum retail wage to $22 an hour. Just this week, the company announced a bunch of new benefits, but told its union store in Maryland that employees there won’t get the perks without first negotiating.

The CWA filed a lawsuit with the NLRB accusing Apple of breaking the law in its efforts to thwart the union, including intimidation, interrogation, surveillance, and mandatory anti-union meetings in Oklahoma.

Earlier this month, the agency’s general counsel filed a complaint against Apple in a lawsuit in New York City, accusing the company of questioning employees about their workplace aggressive practices and discriminatory practices. treat union advocates by selectively enforcing a no solicitation policy. Apple has said that it disagrees with those allegations.

CWA’s victory is no guarantee of a real contract with Apple. Under U.S. labor law, management is required to hold contract negotiations “in good faith” after workers vote to unify, but is under no obligation to make substantial concessions on matters of problems that employees want to solve.

Securing a collective bargaining agreement tends to take more than a year after workers vote to unify, and the process can take much longer — especially if a company has an incentive to avoid incentives. further organizing efforts elsewhere.

Leaders of the Oklahoma City union campaign said they hope to ensure more transparency and input on issues like safety, scheduling and payments.

“We love our job,” Leigha Briscoe, a member of the store’s organizing committee, said in an interview last month. “And we knew it could be better. We knew it could be fairer.”


Apple Issues Anti-Union Threats in Oklahoma, Alleging Complaints


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Quote: Apple’s Oklahoma City store came in second unified after a vote (2022, October 17) retrieved October 17, 2022 from https://techxplore.com/news/2022-10-apple- oklahoma-city-unionize-vote.html

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