Following Amazon and Starbucks, Apple also moves to form a union: "New York employees begin signing"

Apple's New York Direct Store Begins Signature Campaign for Union Formation
Union Establishment Movements in Union-Free Companies like Amazon and Starbucks

Apple Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Kim Nayeon] According to the Washington Post (WP) on the 16th (local time), employees at Apple’s directly operated offline store in Manhattan, New York, are circulating a petition to form a labor union and collecting signatures. Attention is focused on whether a union will be formed at Apple as well.

According to the report, if the union formation is finally approved, employees at the Apple Store Grand Central Terminal branch plan to join the Workers United (WU) branch of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) in North America. WU has recently been involved in union formation movements among Starbucks store employees.

Previously, Apple reportedly conducted persuasion efforts over the past few months targeting employees at the Grand Central Terminal branch to prevent union formation.

WP reported that if employees at the Apple Store Grand Central Terminal branch gather enough signatures and succeed in forming a union, it would be the first case among Apple’s offline stores.

Apple operates 500 stores worldwide, of which about 270 are in the United States.

WP cited an anonymous source reporting that union formation efforts are underway at at least three other locations besides the Grand Central Terminal branch.

In the United States, amid the aftermath of COVID-19 and other factors, union formation movements have been emerging one after another at companies such as Amazon, Starbucks, and Activision Blizzard.