Labor unions have long been one of the most controversial topics in not only the world of gaming but the business world at large. Unions offer better opportunities for lower-level workers to seek fair representation and push for higher wages while big-name companies often oppose labor unions. The gaming and tech industry as a whole have seen plenty of talks of unions across many of the industry's biggest names with Nintendo recently denying accusations of union busting. Now, one of the tech world's most recognizable companies, Apple, sees one of its stores unionizing.
Unions and, in particular, accusations of union busting have been a major topic in the tech world in recent months as Nintendo has not been the only company to take public action against the formation of labor unions. Activision Blizzard was recently embroiled in a labor conflict of its own when Call of Duty developer Raven Software began the process of unionizing only to be met with anti-union sentiments from both company executives and Activision Blizzard's law firm. Now, with unions a hot topic, Apple Store workers at the iPhone creator's Cumberland Mall store in Atlanta, Georgia have filed for a union election.
The group officially filed its petition with the National Labor Relations Board earlier this week with more than 70 percent of the group of eligible workers signing the necessary documentation. Cumberland Mall's store would not be the first Apple Store to start the labor movement as the company's Grand Central Terminal store recently filed for unionization. However, a successful vote would make the store Apple's first retail store to officially unionize. No official date has been set for the final vote, but the initial proposal suggested the vote take place at the end of the first week of May.
While the success or failure of the Cumberland Mall store's unionization remains to be seen, the filing comes as the most recent entry in a major movement towards unionization and workers' rights in recent months. With many gaming titans like Activision Blizzard and Riot Games seeing allegations of workplace harassment and toxic conditions for employees in recent years, indie studio Vodeo Games became the first game studio to unionize last year and employees at other game developers have pushed their workplace to follow suit.
The unionization of Apple's Cumberland Mall store comes at a time when Apple has seen significant criticism and even legal action based on its management of its app stores. Apple's legal battles with Fortnite developer Epic Games saw the massively popular battle royale removed from Apple's storefront indefinitely, and PUBG developer Krafton sued the tech juggernaut earlier this year for the rampant copyright infringement within Apple's stores. Between unionizations and legal pressure from developers, Apple faces a tough road ahead as the company navigates worker's rights movements and keeping developers on the platform.
Source: IGN