UK Apple Store Workers Sign First Union Contract

Months after a successful vote, Apple Store employees in Glasgow have become the company's first retail workers to form a union in the UK. Engadget reports: Apple and the trade union GMB Scotland have signed a collective bargaining agreement that theoretically gives staff at the Buchanan Street store more clout when pushing for improved working conditions. The Glasgow employees voted to unionize in November. They sought better pay, increased wage transparency and improved shift scheduling. Union negotiators characterized talks with Apple as positive, but it took several months before workers cast ballots. Further reading: Are Unionization Efforts Picking Up at Tech Companies?

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[account_deleted]

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Re: Per store unions

[pitch2cv]

Same here. And most people here are in some union, and whether they are or not is none of the employer's business let alone the company would have some say in that.
And every company with over 25 employees is required to have a union representative, someone other employees can talk to in case of conflict or problem. Larger companies have multiple unions on board, and employees can freely choose which to join. Most political parties have a union, but I tend to just pick the one that has the most capable repre

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[RockDoctor]

[Trade union activist from the UK here]

union stories in the US and Britain that I cannot fathom: why have per store unions? Aren't unions working country wide? Is there a legal reason for this?

Good questions.

Answering in reverse order, "none that I know of" (but see following answers);

Aren't unions working country wide?

Yes, we certainly do - both across the countries which are part of the "United" Kingdom, but also where appropriate, we work with our union colleagues across Europe. That latter really infu

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[account_deleted]

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Re: Per store unions

[pitch2cv]

Excellent, thanks for elaborating, RockDoctor!

How are these US corporations (they actually aren't, when operating abroad they have to have local divisions, right) holding off on unions then? So IIUC, any of their employees can syndicate and there's nothing they can do about that if they do.
So atm such employee can get legal advise from a union, but they'd have, due to lack of representation, go argue themselves?

Looking forward to seeing how this plays out.

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[RockDoctor]

How are these US corporations (they actually aren't, when operating abroad they have to have local divisions, right) holding off on unions then?

Threats, intimidation, illegal collusion, operating ink-on-paper blacklists (produce no computer records that can be subpoenaed through law-complying junior staff). The usual methods.

So IIUC, any of their employees can syndicate and there's nothing they can do about that if they do.

Threats, intimidation, illegal collusion, operating ink-on-paper blacklists (produc