President Biden is 'proud' of the first Apple Store to unionize

Apple Store Cutout Nyc Update
Apple Store Cutout Nyc Update (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

  • U.S. President Joe Biden says he is proud of a recent decision by one Apple Store to unionize.
  • A Maryland Apple Store voted to unionize this past weekend.
  • Other Apple Stores are considering a similar move.

U.S. President Joe Biden says that he is "proud" of a Maryland Apple Store team's decision to unionize. The store's worker's voted to join the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers this past weekend.

In a vote that involved more than 100 workers in Towson, near Baltimore, the workers voted "overwhelmingly" in favor of joining the union, making them the first Apple retail workers to do so.

Now, Retuers reports that Biden has told reporters that he is proud of those who voted, saying " workers have a right to determine under what condition they are going to work or not work."

"Everybody is better off, including the final product is always better off (because of unions)", Biden reportedly said on Monday when asked about the Apple vote. Biden has long been considered to be in favor of unions, unlike his predecessor President Donald Trump.

While the Maryland workers are the first to successfully unionize, they are far from the first to suggest the idea. Various Apple Stores have been considering a similar move, with Apple said to be working against them by holding anti-union speeches and more.

Apple Store employees in Atlanta recently put the brakes on attempts to unionize among claims of "illegal union-busting tactics" by Apple.

All of this is news that Apple will hope won't detract attention from a big few months ahead. It has the launch of its next best iPhone, iPhone 14 just a few months away while the Apple Watch Series 8 launch won't be far behind it. New Macs and iPads are also likely to be announced, with its Apple Store employees set to be tasked with selling all the new products — unionized, or not.

Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.

Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.