Atlanta Apple Store Workers Become First To Officially File For Unionization Vote

A group of Apple Store workers in Atlanta has just beaten their colleagues in the Big Apple to the punch. 

Just days after reports emerged that a group of workers at Apple’s Grand Central Terminal store had launched a signature-collection drive to support unionization efforts, workers at the Apple Store in the Cumberland Mall in Atlanta – a group that includes retail workers, technicians, creatives and salespeople – have officially filed for a union election with the NLRB. 

Roughly 70% of the group of about 100 workers signed the cards. If a majority of the workers eventually vote to unionize in an officially-sanctioned election, the store would become the first unionized Apple store in the US. Their petition must now be formally reviewed by the NLRB.

“Apple is a profoundly positive place to work, but we know that the company can better live up to their ideals and so we’re excited to be joining together with our coworkers to bring Apple to the negotiating table and make this an even better place to work,” Derrick Bowles, an Apple Genius worker at the store, said in a statement Wednesday.

In February, the company increased benefits for its full- and part-time retail workers, but the Atlanta workers still insisted that while they provide critical sales and services to the company, Apple doesn’t reward them with cost-of-living raises or access to equitable stock options.

“We work hard at Apple because we really believe in the products and the company and we want to make sure that every Apple worker is able to afford quality housing and basic living expenses,” said Elli Daniels, a product zone worker at Apple.

Workers at other Apple stores are also involved in union drives, but the Atlanta store is working with the Communications Workers of America.

We look forward to seeing how Apple’s CEO Tim Cook reconciles supporting Apple’s ultra-progressive Silicon Valley values with opposing the unionization efforts.