Business

Employees at a New York Apple store are trying to unionize

April 19, 2022 5:30 am

Some employees at the Apple store at New York’s Grand Central Station are seeking to form a union, the latest high-profile labor organizing effort to take root in the pandemic era.

A person familiar with the matter told CNN Business that workers at the Grand Central Apple store have begun collecting signatures to file a petition to unionize, the first step of a union organizing effort. If they file cards from at least 30% of the workers at the store, the National Labor Relations Board can hold an election.

The employees leading the effort are partnering with Workers United, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union, and the same union supporting the so-far-successful organizing effort at Starbucks.

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The Apple employees have dubbed their effort Fruit Stand Workers United. The organizing effort was first reported by the Washington Post.

On the group’s website, it says a union is needed because wages have not kept pace with the cost of living in New York City. It said it also wants better job protections for workers.

“Apple has grown to be the most valuable company in the world,” the employees’ site says.”Why should its retail workers live precariously? We cannot live at the whims of Apple’s generosity.

We can’t bet our futures on luck. If Apple’s goal is ‘To leave the world better than we found it,’ then they need to hold themselves to a higher standard.”

Apple (AAPL) would not comment directly on the organizing effort.

“We are fortunate to have incredible retail team members and we deeply value everything they bring to Apple,” said the company’s statement. “We are pleased to offer very strong compensation and benefits for full time and part time employees, including health care, tuition reimbursement, new parental leave, paid family leave, annual stock grants and many other benefits.”

The company has more than 270 US stores, and tens of thousands of US retail employees. The starting salary for retail workers is $20 an hour, or about $40,000 a year for a full-time employee. The average hourly wage for retailer workers at electronics and appliance stores nationwide stands at about $25.50 an hour, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That is all workers in the sector, not the starting wage.