Maryland Apple workers face hurdles after vote to unionize

— The historic vote by employees of a Maryland Apple store to unionize — a first for the technology giant — is a significant step in a lengthy process that labor experts say is heavily stacked against workers in favor of their employers. The Apple retail workers in Towson, Maryland, voted 65-33 to seek entry into the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, the union’s announcement said. “Young workers learn union activism through this coverage, and some will likely be inspired to try to organize their own workplaces.” Despite U.S. labor law being stacked against workers, Duff said he thinks that “if there is going to be a reawakened labor movement in the United States it will happen in just this way.” Union organizing in a variety of fields has gained momentum recently after decades of decline in U.S. union membership. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and the Apple employees who wanted to join said they sent Apple CEO Tim Cook notice last month that they were seeking to form a union. Logan said the Apple victory shows that the established labor movement “is capable of adapting its self to the needs of the group of independent-minded, self-confident workers you find at Apple stores.” The Apple store unionization vote comes against a backdrop of other labor organizing efforts nationwide — some of them rebuffed.