Workers at the first unionized Apple store in the U.S. have authorized a strike.
The decision has been taken amid a stalemate over negotiations about a contract.
“We have more bargaining dates coming up. We’re going to go to the table. We’re hoping the company will bargain in good faith, but frankly what we’ve seen over the past year or so is that they really haven’t been, and we filed charges based on that they’re not living up to their obligation under federal law to bargain in good faith with the union.” David DiMaria, the machinists union’s lead organizer at the Apple store in Towson, Maryland, said.
The Towson store is one of only two stores in the U.S. that’s been unionized.
The strike authorization vote is the first step before a potential strike sanction vote.
But DiMaria remains hopeful that Apple — which is the largest tech company in the world — will follow federal labor law and abide by its own code of conduct corporate policies.
However, it’s been claimed that over the last 12 months, minimal progress has been made over the key issues for a first contract.
