(Reuters) – A person familiar with the situation told Reuters on Friday that Apple Inc. (AAPL.O) accepts the result of a vote by Maryland store workers to become its first U.S. employees to join a union and is ready to negotiate with them.
Apple is one of many large American companies whose employees have voted to join a union. In recent months, workers at some Starbucks Corp. (SBUX.O) and Amazon Inc. (AMZN.O) locations have also voted to join a union.
Last week, nearly two-thirds of the workers at the Apple store in Towson, Maryland, who are members of the Coalition of Organized Retail Employees (CORE), voted to join a union. It is the first of Apple’s 270 stores in the U.S. to do this.
Another vote that was supposed to happen in Georgia earlier this year was also cancelled.
A person who knows about the situation said that Apple plans to take part in the talks “in good faith.”
The workers in Maryland voted to join the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM).
Sullivan, the eastern territory vice president of the union, said in a statement that the members “look forward to bargaining with Apple and getting a strong first contract that makes positive changes for Apple workers and the customers they are proud to serve.”
Different things have happened when employees have tried to organise at work.
Amazon questioned the outcome of a plan to organise a union at a warehouse in New York City, while Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) President Brad Smith said in a blog post earlier this month that his company would not stop employees from trying to organise.
This year, Apple employees at a store in Georgia were going to vote on whether or not to join a union. However, the vote was cancelled, and union officials later filed a complaint saying that Apple scared its employees. Two other Apple stores in New York are also thinking about joining a union.
