According to the union’s release, the team at the Towson store voted 65-33 to join the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.
Workers were seen cheering joyously after the vote was counted, requesting greater rights beyond those provided by their existing contracts.
The Machinists and those who wished to join said they had notified Apple CEO Tim Cook last month that they were looking to form a union and that their primary objective was to obtain ‘rights we do not currently enjoy.’
They wrote, ‘This is something we don’t do to go against or create disagreement with our management.’
Apple had ‘nothing to offer at this time,’ according to an email from a representative.
After decades of declining union membership in the United States, union mobilization in a variety of industries has recently gained traction.
Organizers have sought to form unions at corporations such as Amazon, Starbucks, REI, and Alphabet, the parent company of Google.
The conclusion of Saturday’s vote could not be certified immediately by the National Labor Relations Board, which would have to validate the result. Initial questions regarding the vote were directed to the NLRB’s regional office, which was closed late Saturday.
The decision in Towson came following a push for unionization by a group of employees known as AppleCORE (Coalition of Organized Retail Employees), who demanded more say over salaries, hours, and safety measures.
‘Towson, we did it! Our vote for unionization was successful! Thank you to everyone who helped and supported us! Now it’s time to rejoice… ‘We’ll keep organizing tomorrow,’ AppleCORE tweeted.
In a statement, IAM International President Robert Martinez Jr. remarked, “I congratulate the fortitude demonstrated by CORE members at the Apple store in Towson for obtaining this historic win.” ‘They made a significant sacrifice on behalf of thousands of Apple employees around the country who were focused on this election.’
Martinez urged Apple to accept the election results and allow unionizing employees at the Towson location to move through with their efforts to secure a contract.
Senator Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent, praised the Apple employees’ decision, writing, “What we are seeing right now is a historic movement of working class Americans informing the corporate elite that they must cease their greed.”
It was uncertain what would happen after the Towson vote. According to labor experts, corporations frequently prolong the bargaining process in order to derail union campaigns.
The IAM claims to be one of North America’s largest and most diverse industrial trade unions, with 600,000 active and retired members working in aerospace, defense, airlines, railroads, transportation, healthcare, automotive, and other industries.
Apple employees in Atlanta who wanted to form a union withdrew their proposal last month, citing intimidation as a reason.
Last year, some current and former Apple employees took to social media to criticize the company’s working conditions, using the hashtag #AppleToo.
The Apple retail unionization comes against a backdrop of previous labor organizing efforts across the country, some of which have been unsuccessful.
Workers at an Amazon warehouse in New York City decided to unionize in April, marking the company’s first successful organizing campaign in the United States.
Workers at an Amazon warehouse on Staten Island, on the other hand, decisively rejected a union proposal last month.
Meanwhile, workers at dozens of Starbucks locations around the United States have decided to unionize in recent months, after the vote of two Starbucks locations in Buffalo, New York, late last year.
Young employees in their 20s and even their teens have led many unionization initiatives.
Last year, a group of Google engineers and other employees founded the Alphabet Workers Union, which now has roughly 800 members and is led by five people under the age of 35.