In June this year, Apple Store in Towson, Maryland voted in favor of a union and become the first unionized location in the United States. The organizer of the effort, AppleCore organization is now conducting a survey at the unionized location to know what demands the members want to negotiate with Apple.
Upon winning the union vote, the Towson organizers said that the decision to form a union was about them as workers gaining access to rights which did not have then.
Apple Store Towson union organizers ask members to identify “most important” issues
Mark Gurman from Bloomberg shared a copy of the survey “2022 Bargaining Survey for IAM-CORE Members Working at Apple” on Twitter which is a lengthy 4-pages questionnaire consisting of 63 questions designed to staff’s priorities for negotiations in 2022″. He also pointed out that since the unionization nothing has changed at the location.
Members are asked to identify up to three “most important” for them at Apple out the following list of crucial issues:
- Wage increases
- Improvements to health and welfare benefits
- medical costs containment
- Retirement (pension)
- Scheduling issues
- Improve paid time off (vacation, holidays, sick leave)
- Respect from employer
- increase staffing
- Other
Other questions on the survey ask the members to rate various areas of improvement as not important, slightly important, very important, or essential. The list includes questions as the following for upcoming contract negotiations with the tech giant:
- General wage increases
- Transparency on wages/pay brackets
- Premium pay for special skills (e.g., non-English-speaking employees)
- Reduce time it takes to reach maximum rate of pay
- Add cost-of-living adjustment
- Add pension plan (see attached)
- Add profit sharing
- Improve 401(k) savings plan
- Improve medical coverage
- Improve dental coverage
- Improve vision coverage
- Improve mental health coverage
- Improve pet insurance coverage
- Improve accident and sickness coverage
- Improve life insurance coverage
- Medical costs containment
- Overtime procedures
- Increase paid holidays
- More vacation time
- Improve sick leave benefits
- Improve policies/procedures for approval of paid time off
- Improve bereavement pay and/or policy/ies
In spite of the changes Apple introduced to alleviate retail workers’ grievances like increasing the minimum wage to $22 per hour, having “listening” sessions, sharing the impact of a union in finding “fewer opportunities, less flexibility” and compelling the company to pay “less attention to merit” and others, several Apple Store locations in the United States and the U.K. are pushing towards unionization.
Union organizers argue that one of the most valuable companies in the world, Apple ignores its “frontline workers” by not giving them a competitive pay structure and conducive working environment.
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