Apple has rejected the unionization efforts of its UK-based Apple Southampton location

Apple has rejected the unionization efforts of its UK-based Apple Southampton location, prompting the staff to push for statutory trade union recognition without Apple’s approval, reports AppleInsider. 

In September Apple Southampton became the third UK Apple retail store to unionize and sought recognition from Apple. Now, the UK-based trade union United Tech and Allied Workers (UTAW) at Apple says management at the tech giant has refused to recognize UTAW voluntarily, reports AppleInsider. But plans are afoot for arbitration the matter.

Workers at the Scottish Apple store in Glasgow officially become the first in the UK to unionize in February after signing a formal agreement with the American tech giant, according to The Scotland Herald.

Last November the staff at Apple’s Buchanan Street branch voted for union recognition in a call for fairer pay and workplace practices. That vote apparently persuaded Apple management to sign a collective bargaining agreement to recognize GMB Scotland membership in the Glasgow city center computer shop.

The Herald noted in February that staff at other branches around the UK were now seeking to take similar action with employees elsewhere in Scotland also signing up to the union. In the U.S., the Cumberland Mall store near Atlanta became the first to file unionization paperwork with the National Labor Relations Board early last year. In May 2022, a group of Apple employees at the Towson Mall in Towson, Maryland launched a union drive.