The effort, calling itself "Fruit Stand Workers
United," aims to garner signatures from at least 30 percent of the New
York store, the minimum needed to qualify for a unionisation election.
The campaign is connected to Workers United, an affiliate of
the national Service Employees International Union, which was established in
2009 from several earlier unions.
Workers United confirmed its involvement.
"Like so many recent campaigns, this has been worker-driven,
and worker led," Workers United said in an email. "We recognise the
tremendous bravery and courage these workers have taken to stand up for their
rights, and we will support them every step of the way."
Organisers of the Grand Central campaign described
themselves as working in "extraordinary times with the ongoing Covid-19
pandemic and once-in-a-generation consumer price inflation," though their
website did not disclose the name of staff members leading the effort.
"Grand Central is an extraordinary store with unique
working conditions that make a union necessary to ensure our team has the best
possible standards of living," the workers said on the campaign website
for the prospective union.
The Apple effort comes as a Starbucks unionisation drive backed
by Workers United has spread nationally after election victories last year in
New York.
Amazon is also facing a growing challenge from unions after
an upstart campaign won an election at a warehouse in nearby Staten Island
earlier this month. A vote at a second Staten Island Amazon site is scheduled
for later in April.
On Monday, the National Labor Relations Board, which
oversees union elections, indicated it received enough signatures from another
Amazon warehouse to hold a vote in Bayonne, New Jersey at a site with about 200
workers.
Employees working in at least three other Apple stores are
also attempting to organise, according to The Washington Post.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment
from AFP.