New Crack in Apple’s Armor as Dozens Strike at Its Stores in Australia

MELBOURNE, Australia — Dozens of Apple workers in Australia walked off the job on Tuesday after negotiations over pay and working conditions stalled, the latest crack in the armor of the tech giant as it contends with a burgeoning unionization movement in the United States and Europe.

The action itself is small. About 150 retail workers, out of the company’s nearly 4,000 Australian employees, voted to strike for an hour. Then, starting on Wednesday, they will refuse to do a variety of work, including installing screen protectors, repairing AirPods and handling deliveries.

But the strike is symbolically significant. After years of labor harmony, Apple retail workers in the United States have overcome resistance from the company to mobilize in a pandemic-era wave of employee unrest, part of a broader flourishing of labor organizing at retailers, restaurants and tech companies.

In June, a store in Towson, Md., became Apple’s first U.S. outlet to unionize, with employees saying they wanted a greater voice over compensation, scheduling and career advancement. That same month, an Apple store in Britain was unionized for the first time. A second U.S. store, in Oklahoma City, voted to unionize on Friday, and union leaders say workers at more than two dozen other stores in the country have expressed interest in unionizing.