Fruit Stand Workers United, the union trying to organize Apple’s Grand Central Terminal store, says it plans to achieve a $30-an-hour minimum wage for the site’s workers (via CNBC). The union updated its website on Monday with its goals, including wage increases, health and safety research, and better education and pension benefits.
A minimum wage of $30 means a full-time employee would start out earning about $62,000 a year. The union also wants pay to be calculated using a “matrix based on function, tenure and performance”.
Fruit Stand Workers United says it also wants to discuss holiday entitlement increases, 401(k) adjustment rates and tuition reimbursement, and more retirement options, such as retirement benefits. B. Retirement plans. The union is also asking Apple to “research safety protocols with customer interactions and research on track dust, health effects of building materials and noise pollution at Grand Central.”
In large cities like New York, there are significant concerns about vehicle-related pollutants such as brake dust and exhaust fumes. And while noise pollution is an issue for nearly all New Yorkers, it seems to be a particular concern for employees at a store in one of the city’s busiest train stations.
Fruit Stand Workers United is a member of the union behind Starbucks’ recent organization
While the website doesn’t specifically mention COVID-19 in the health and safety section, Apple has made many changes to its business operations over the course of the pandemic, both opening and closing its retail stores and putting on, removing, and replacing masks on mandates for customers. In Texas, Apple reportedly temporarily closed a store when three workers tested positive shortly after Black Friday.
Last week, Fruit Stand Workers United announced it had started signing cards to employees to say they were interested in joining a union. If more than 30 percent of workers at the site sign, Fruit Stand Workers United can formally petition the National Labor Relations Board to hold an election.
The ambitious demands come amid a wave of organizing efforts at both tech and retail companies. Amazon warehouse workers in New York voted to unionize earlier this month, and employees at several Starbucks locations also voted to represent workers. (According to its website, Fruit Stand Workers United is affiliated with the union behind the Starbucks effort.)
Just in the past few weeks, Google Fiber contractors and employees at two Verizon retail locations have also voted to join a union. Verizon announced yesterday that it is raising its minimum wage for retail and customer service associates to $20, with the proviso that the $20 figure for retail associates is the sum of their salary and their “target commission.”