Over the weekend, a group of more than 100 Apple (AAPL, $131.56) employees in a Baltimore suburb made history within the company when they voted to unionize by a nearly 2-to-1 margin. The move marks the first of its 270+ stores in the United States to follow the growing trend in labor organizing among retailers, restaurants and tech companies. If all goes well, the workers will be joining the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.
The Apple employees, along with representatives from the union, claim they sent CEO Tim Cook a notice last month that said they were seeking to form a union. The statement explained that their driving motivation was to seek “rights we do not currently have”.
While Apple has yet to comment publicly on the vote, internal leadership within the company has historically dissuaded union organization. An exact timeline for the union is still unclear. According to labor experts, it’s common for employers to drag out negotiations in order to take the momentum out of union campaigns.