Oklahoma City Apple Store Employees decide to Unionize
The company's second US retail outlet to unionize is its location in the Penn Square Mall.
The Apple Store employees who had been contemplating unionization since at least the beginning of the year had come a long way from secretly organizing over encrypted chats. The first unionized US outlet was an Apple Store in Maryland in June. The second Apple Store to formally organize in the US is now an Oklahoma City retail location that voted in favor of unionization. The Penn Square Labor Alliance, as the store is located at Oklahoma City's Penn Square Mall, is the name given to the organization, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The store has about 100 employees who are eligible for union membership. According to the National Labor Relations Board's records, 56 of those employees voted in favor of creating a union, while 32 did not. The group presently intends to affiliate with the Communications Workers of America, which additionally speaks for employees of firms including AT&T and Verizon.
As a member of the organizing committee and an employee at the Oklahoma City location, Charity Lassiter told The Journal: "Now that we've won the election, it's our hope that management will come to the table so that we can all work together to build a company that priorities employees over profit and fosters employee success."
A spokeswoman for Apple told the outlet in a statement that the company "believes the open, direct and collaborative relationship we have with our valued team members is the best approach to offer an amazing experience for our consumers, and for our teams."
According to earlier allegations, Apple has been attempting to discourage employees from joining unions. Bloomberg recently revealed that the internet behemoth is providing new benefits to its staff members, including increased health coverage and support for educational possibilities.
However, it is said that the computer giant will deny those benefits to unionized members, who will now have to bargain for them. The business apparently provided its management with anti-union talking lines when discussions regarding employee organizing efforts first heated up. The NLRB found merit in the charges that Apple surveilled staff, restricted access to pro-union flyers, and assisted captive audience gatherings to disseminate its anti-union messaging after employees formally accused the tech giant of union busting. If no resolution is reached by all parties, a hearing before an NLRB judge is scheduledfor December.
