Apple retail store workers in Oklahoma City are voting this week on whether to form the second-ever labor union at one of the tech giant’s US stores, reports CNN Business. Voting started yesterday and continues today.
The Apple store workers in Oklahoma are seeking to gain representation with the Communication Workers of America union. Just under 100 employees at the Apple store in the Penn Square Mall are eligible to vote in this union election.
This continues the trend of Apple store unionization. In the U.S., the Cumberland Mall store near Atlanta, Georgia became the first to file unionization paperwork with the National Labor Relations Board earlier this year. However, In May, a group of Apple employees at the Towson Mall in Towson, Maryland voted to unionize. A 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.
Outside the US, a union representing Australian employees of Apple voted to strike due to lack of progress on wage negotiations, reports Reuters. The one-hour strike planned for Oct. 18 will involve about 150 of Apple’s 4,000 Australian employees who are represented by the Retail and Fast Food Workers Union (RAFFWU), restricting most customer services in at least three of the company’s 22 stores in the country, the union said.