Apple Store employees attempting to form a union at the company’s flagship Grand Central Terminal location in New York City want the tech giant to pay workers at least $30 per hour. According to CNBC, the group leading the effort, Fruit Stand Workers United, made the request on Monday in an update posted to its website.

“For pay, we seek a minimum $30 for all workers, built up on a matrix based on role, tenure and performance,” the group said. “For benefits, we seek more robust changes, like increased tuition reimbursement, faster accrued and more vacation time, and better retirement options, including higher match rates for 401(k) and enrollment into pension plans.”

According to TheWashington Post, the first outlet to report on the Grand Central Terminal unionization effort, Apple pays retail employees between $17 and up to $30 per hour, depending on their role, experience and location. “We are fortunate to have incredible retail team members and we deeply value everything they bring to Apple,” the company said. “We are pleased to offer very strong compensation and benefits for full time and part time employees, including health care, tuition reimbursement, new parental leave, paid family leave, annual stock grants and many other benefits.”

Organizers with Fruit Stand Workers United recently began collecting signatures from their co-workers. If at least 30 percent of the approximately 270 eligible employees at the store express interest in forming a union, the group can file with the National Labor Relations Board to hold an election. At least three other stores are attempting to form a union, according to The Post.

At the start of the year, Apple announced it would offer additional benefits to all of its US retail employees. As of April 4th, the company’s expanded benefits include increased vacation and sick days, paid parental leave and more. Like many other retailers throughout the pandemic, Apple has had a time tough hiring and retaining frontline workers. Over that same period, the company’s retail employees have complained of difficult working conditions, including issues with low pay, stressful workloads due to staffing shortages and poor morale.

Apple Store employees at the company’s flagship Grand Central Terminal location have begun collecting signatures to form a union, according to The Washington Post. In a recent update to their website, the organizers leading the effort say they voted on February 21st to affiliate themselves with Workers United. That’s the same labor union that has helped Starbucks employees across the US unionize.

“Grand Central is an extraordinary store with unique working conditions that make a union necessary to ensure our team has the best possible standards of living in what have proven to be extraordinary times with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and once-in-a-generation consumer price inflation,” the group, known as the Fruit Stand Workers United, said.

Apple declined to tell The Post whether it would support the unionization effort. Those involved in the drive accused the company of employing “union busting” tactics, including messaging that has tried to convince workers that unionization is against their best interests.

“We are fortunate to have incredible retail team members and we deeply value everything they bring to Apple,” a spokesperson for the company told The Post. “We are pleased to offer very strong compensation and benefits for full time and part time employees, including health care, tuition reimbursement, new parental leave, paid family leave, annual stock grants and many other benefits.”

Apple operates more than 270 stores in the US alone. According to The Post, at least three other retail locations are in the process of attempting to form a union. Organizers at the company’s Grand Central location are handing out signature cards. If at least 30 percent of the store’s workers say they’re interested in exploring unionization, Fruit Stand Workers United can petition the National Labor Relations Board to hold an election. 

Amid a pandemic that has had a disproportionate effect on essential workers, many workplaces across the US have begun to unionize, including, most notably, Amazon’s JFK8 fulfillment center on Staten Island. At the start of April, a majority of workers at the warehouse voted to form the first-ever Amazon union. The effort was successful despite the company spending $4.3 million on anti-union consultants in 2021.

Amazon is said to have intensified its anti-union efforts ahead of a union election at a warehouse later this month. The Amazon Labor Union told Motherboard the company is mandating daily anti-union meetings at LDJ5, a facility in Staten Island, New York. It's also said to have distributed anti-union literature and disciplined a leader of the drive for organizing on the warehouse floor. What's more, ALU says Amazon has hired anti-union consultants to pose as employees.

Workers at the warehouse, which reportedly has around 1,500 employees, are scheduled to begin a union election on April 25th. Amazon's anti-union efforts ramped up in recent days, according to the report. The ALU recently won an election at a nearby facility, JFK8, which became the first Amazon warehouse in the US to formally unionize. Amazon plans to appeal the union's victory.

Amazon and the National Labor Relations Board in December reached a deal in December, under which the company agreed to inform past and current warehouse workers in the US of their right to organize. The terms of the agreement afforded workers more leeway to organize in break rooms, which is said to have been a key factor in ALU's success at JFK8.

However, Amazon reportedly isn't sticking to those terms at LDJ5. The ALU said the company removed pro-union literature from the break room and took down a pro-union banner after the JFK8 election result became clear. A lawyer representing ALU workers has filed unfair labor practice charges against Amazon for removing the banner and allegedly retaliating against a worker to stifle unionization efforts.

Engadget has contacted Amazon for comment.

Amazon has long been accused of cracking down on workers' attempts to organize. Last year alone, it spent $4.3 million on anti-union consultants. The company's also said to be working on a chat app for workers, in which terms like "union" and "pay raise" are on a blocklist.

The NLRB said the company illegally interfered in a union election in Bessemer, Alabama last year and called for a rerun. However, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union claimed Amazon interfered in the second election as well. The result of that vote hinges on a court hearing over challenged ballots.

Amazon will reportedly object to a recent union election victory at its warehouse in Staten Island, alleging that organizers pressured workers into voting to organize. The Wall Street Journal reported that the company revealed its intention to appeal JFK8’s election in a legal filing released to the public on Thursday. Roughly 55 percent of workers at the JFK8 warehouse voted to join the Amazon Labor Union, the first victory of its kind for Amazon workers in the US. The company has until April 22nd to gather evidence and formally file its objections to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

In the document, Amazon gave a preview of what objections it plans on raising. The company wrote that it believes that the union threatened employees unless they voted to unionize. Some may think this is a fairly ironic move on Amazon’s part, considering NLRB accused the company of threatening employees unless they did the opposite. Amazon also accused the union of “electioneering” or interfering while employees waited in line to vote. It argued that unusually long waits at polling booths led to insufficient voter turnout. The company also believes organizers loitered by the polling area and intimidated voters, even going as far as to threaten immigrant employees with the loss of their rights if they didn’t vote to unionize.

Eric Milner, an attorney who represents the ALU, believes that Amazon’s objections will be dismissed. "To say that the Amazon Labor Union was threatening employees is really absurd," Milner said to Reuters. "The Amazon Labor Union is Amazon employees."

Meanwhile, a separate labor union attempting to organize an Amazon facility in Alabama filed its own objections on Thursday regarding the pending results of its recent rerun election. The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) is accusing Amazon of “countless attempts to intimidate workers” in the Bessemer plant, including firing or suspending workers who supported the union. The results of that election are currently too close to call and will be determined in the coming weeks by an NLRB hearing over several hundred challenged ballots.

“Amazon’s behavior must not go unchallenged, and workers in Bessemer, Alabama must have their rights protected under the law. We urge the NLRB to carefully review our objections and ensure no company, not even with the bottomless pockets of Amazon, is allowed to act above the law,” said RWDSU president Stuart Appelbaum in a statement.

Engadget has reached out to Amazon for comment on both matters, and will update if we hear back. 

Amazon spent around $4.3 on consultants last year in an effort to prevent unionization of its warehouses, according to company filings with the US Department of Labor. Workers were required to attend meetings led by the consultants who discussed anti-union talking points ahead of key union votes in Bessemer, Alabama and Staten Island, New York, HuffPost has reported.

Companies are required to disclose financial details when consultants speak directly to workers about unionization. Very few have spent even $1 million on union avoidance over several years, according to a recent report, while Amazon spent multiple times that in just 2021 alone. Some consultants were paid up to $3,200 per day.

The meetings are legal and usually held when employers discover efforts to organize unions. They're called "captive audience meetings" by labor organizers because attendance is normally non-optional. Typically, the consultants will focus on union dues and potential loss of wages due to work stoppages. They also help company's come up with strategies to defeat unions.

Amazon workers recently voted in two union drives in Bessemer and Staten Island. At Bessemer, workers voted 993-875 against unionizing, but 416 votes have been challenged, so the final result is far from established. However, as it stands now, the Staten Island union is currently ahead 1,518 to 1,154 (a margin of 364) votes, with counting set to resume today.

The initial results of a second union election at Amazon's BHM1 warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama have finally come through. Workers have voted against unionization in a closely contested 993-875 vote (with 59 voided votes) out of 6,153 workers eligible to cast a ballot. Turnout appears to have been considerably lower this time around, as more than 3,000 employees cast ballots in the early 2021 vote. However, 416 votes have been challenged — more than enough to change the outcome — so the definitive result might not be available for some time.

The tally brings BHM1 to the possible end of a long and messy saga. Bessemer workers voted against unionization in early 2021, but the National Labor Relations Board ruled that Amazon violated labor laws by allegedly interfering with the vote. The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) accused Amazon of repeatedly trying to intimidate workers through measures like an unauthorized ballot box and anti-union campaign material. While Amazon disputed the claims, the NLRB ultimately ordered a second vote.

The rerun election didn't go smoothly, either. The RWDSU has maintained that Amazon interfered with the second vote by removing pro-union posters, forcing attendance of anti-union meetings and limiting time spent on company grounds to discourage organization. Before the vote, the RWDSU also accused Amazon of illegal retaliation against worker Isaiah Thomas' pro-union efforts. The company has again argued that its actions are legal.

BHM1 was the first major Amazon facility in the US to hold a union vote, but it's no longer the only one. One Staten Island warehouse, JFK8, is already voting on possible unionization, and early vote totals show the grassroots Amazon Labor Union ahead by several hundred votes. Another facility in Staten Island is scheduled to hold its own unionization vote starting in late April. Simply put, there's a growing desire for workers to have a say in their conditions at at Amazon's — whether those efforts succeed, however, remains to be seen.

In a tally with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) this afternoon, Google Fiber customer service workers — jointly employed by Google parent Alphabet and staffing agency BDS Connected Solutions — voted 9 to 1 to form a union. They'll be represented by the Alphabet Workers Union, an arm of the Communications Workers of America.

Workers at the store, which operates out of Kansas City, Missouri, told Engadget back in January that they were feeling left out of important workplace conversations, especially around safety and staffing. 

This story is developing...

A second Amazon warehouse in Staten Island, New York will vote on whether to form a union, reported CNBC. The outcome of the vote, scheduled to begin on April 25th and last until May 2nd, will decide whether employees at the LDJ5 facility join the Amazon Labor Union, an independent, worker-led movement formed last year in Staten Island. Roughly a mile away, another Staten Island Amazon warehouse (known as JFK8) is set to hold its own union election next week.

Both elections are the latest development in a battle with Amazon on one side, unions and Amazon warehouse workers on the other side, and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) serving as the referee. NLRB ordered a re-run of a union election held at an Amazon warehouse in Alabama after determining that the tech giant illegally interfered in the vote. Votes for that election are scheduled to be counted on March 28th. 

Earlier this week, NLRB sued Amazon over the termination of Gerald Bryson, an employee of the JFK8 facility, who the agency believes was fired in retaliation for his activism. According to a tweet by ALU, Bryson’s employment at Amazon appears to have been reinstated after a federal judge complied with NLRB’s request to issue an injunction.

Staten Island workers have accused Amazon of union-busting and actively targeting workers involved in the union. Last month the NYPD arrested three labor organizers at the JFK8 facility — including ALU president Chris Smalls — after an Amazon manager complained that they were trespassing, reported The Daily Beast.

Elon Musk says Tesla will do nothing to stop United Auto Workers (UAW) from holding a union vote at the company's Fremont, California factory. In a tweet, the company chief said Tesla's real challenge in the Bay Area is negative unemployment, so it treats and compensates its "(awesome) people well" or they'd just leave otherwise. 

Musk posted the tweet in response to Kiss co-lead singer Gene Simmons who sided with the executive when he called out the President for not mentioning Tesla in his State of the Union Address. The President only praised Ford and General Motors for investing billions of dollars in their efforts to release electric vehicles, thereby generating thousands of jobs in the process. As Bloomberg notes, Biden is a labor union supporter and often snubs Tesla, which has a non-unionized workforce, in his speeches and interviews.

In a follow-up tweet, Musk claimed that Tesla factory workers have the highest compensation in the auto industry, posting an interview of GM CEO Mary Barra as his source. In the interview, news anchor and journalist Andrew Sorkin said Tesla's non-unionized workers were earning more than their unionized counterparts. Barra said she'd have to see more information, since one must also take benefits and not just wages into account, but that what Sorkin said wasn't the case last time she checked. 

The UAW has been working to unionize Tesla for years, and Musk has criticized those efforts from the start. When a Fremont production worker claimed poor working conditions and low pay in 2017, Musk reportedly sent out a letter to employees with a point-by-point takedown while also slamming UAW. He said the union's true allegiance is to the "giant car companies, where the money they take from employees in dues is vastly more than they could ever make from Tesla."  

In the same year, the National Labor Relations Board filed a complaint against the automaker after investigating complaints of unfair labor practices. According to the NLRB, workers said Tesla "coerces and intimidates" them with a confidentiality agreement that prevents them from discussing unionization. In 2018, the NLRB found that the company violated labor laws when it fired union activist Richard Ortiz and ordered it to compensate him for loss of earnings and benefits. 

The labor board also ordered Musk to delete a tweet that might sound like a threat to employees. In the tweet, Musk similarly invited efforts to unionize. "Nothing stopping Tesla team at our car plant from voting union. Could do so [tomorrow] if they wanted," he wrote. However, he also said: "But why pay union dues & give up stock options for nothing?" NLRB chair Wilma Liebman explained at the time that to an employee, that may sound like they'll no longer have stock options if they vote to unionize. As Electrek notes, Tesla offers its stock compensation program to most of its employees, and the company's rising stock prices makes it a very valuable benefit. 

A new bill that guarantees benefits for ride-hail drivers while still classifying them as gig workers has passed the Washington State House. It's backed by Uber and Lyft, as well as the local Teamsters union, and represents a compromise between all parties involved. Under the legislation, drivers are guaranteed benefits that include paid sick leave, a minimum pay rate and a resource center for drivers who want to appeal their deactivation — all while still being classified as gig workers. 

Meanwhile, the companies can't set their workers' schedules under the legislation, and cities won't have the power to regulate ride-hailing firms. According to LaborNotes, the bill is getting mixed reception from drivers, with some arguing that the benefits may not be enough.

Uber, Lyft and other gig companies have long fought attempts to force them to classify their workers as employees, even spending hundreds of millions of dollars to ensure that's the case. In California, the companies spent over $200 million to campaign for Proposition 22, a ballot that overturns a local law that made drivers full employees. The companies prevailed, and the proposition passed with a decently wide margin. 

Peter Kuel, president of the Teamsters-affiliated Drivers Union, told Bloomberg:

"Thousands of Uber and Lyft drivers — predominantly immigrants and people of color — will benefit from this long overdue expansion of pay raises, benefits and protections statewide."

LaborNotes says, though, that Drivers Union supported the bill mainly because the companies threatened to pursue a ballot initiative if they don't get a compromise in Washington. Don Creery, a Drivers Union board member, told the publication:

"They're also holding the gun at our heads with the possibility of an initiative. They spent $200 million on California. It comes down to the reality that we don't have the money to buy TV ads. They do. They will misinform the public with a barrage of TV ads, so we will lose an initiative. We could lose everything."

The legislation is now heading to the State Senate, which will hold a public hearing for it today, February 26th.