A special “all Apple worker” Zoom call is being hosted by RAFFWU (the Retail and Fast Food Workers Union) to discuss the possible unionization of Apple retail store employees in Australia.
It’s the third such call after the two hosted by the Australian Services Union (ASU) trade union. Here’s how the meeting — which will be held Thursday, Aug. 25, at 7:30 p.m. AEST — is described:
This meeting will take workers through how industrial action works, the steps needed to make action protected and lawful, how industrial action might influence Apple’s bargaining, and answer questions from workers. RAFFWU is the only bargaining representative involved in negotiations at Apple that has ever organised industrial action in retail workplaces. RAFFWU helped bookshop members secure the best Enterprise Agreement in retail in 2021 through the direct action of members – including 6 months parental leave, substantially higher wages, double time on Sunday, job security and much more.
In the U.S., the Cumberland Mall store near Atlanta became the first to file unionization paperwork with the National Labor Relations Board earlier this year. In May, a group of Apple employees at the Towson Mall in Towson, Maryland launched a union drive. Aa fourth group of Apple retail store workers — this time at the Oxmoore Center Mall in Louisville, Kentucky — reportedly plan to form a union. And workers at the flagship Grand Central Terminal store in New York City have been gathering signatures.
