San Francisco:

Unionized workers at a Maryland Apple store voted on Saturday to authorize a strike, which would mark the first such labor action against the retailer in the United States if it goes forward.

Employees at the Apple store in the town of Towson, outside of Baltimore, voted to unionize in 2022 — another first for the iPhone maker’s US stores.

But a contract has yet to be agreed upon.

“Following over a year of negotiations with Apple management that yielded unsatisfactory outcomes,” union members are “signaling their collective demand for meaningful change,” a union statement said.

“The issues at the forefront of this action include concerns over work-life balance, unpredictable scheduling practices disrupting personal lives, and wages failing to align with the area’s cost of living.”

The Towson store has about 100 employees, 98 percent of whom voted in favor of the work stoppage.

The next negotiation meeting is scheduled for May 21, though a strike could come before that.

Meanwhile, employees at another of the California-based company’s stores, in New Jersey, voted down a unionization effort over the weekend.

Apple did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment.

The National Labor Relations Board, the federal labor regulator, has received numerous complaints against Apple accusing it of trying to discourage staff from unionizing.

US tech companies in general are seen as hostile toward unionization efforts — notably Amazon.

In September, nearly a quarter of Apple store employees in France went on strike the day the iPhone 15 launched, demanding a pay raise at least equal to inflation.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

A woman in Fujian province in southern China was arrested after she bit and chewed an anti-theft cable at an Apple store to steal an iPhone 14 Plus priced at $960 (Rs 79,414), as per a report in South China Morning Post. The woman surnamed Qiu, was caught by police half an hour after leaving the shop with the device.

In the video of the CCTV camera going viral on Chinese social media platforms, Ms Qiu is seen standing in front of the display stand of smartphone. She then leans on the counter and places her right hand on a phone. After a brief examination of the gadget, she nibbles on the security cable multiple times before placing the phone in her bag and leaving the store.

The store manager, Wang, stated that an alarm was activated during the incident. However, the employees that investigated found nothing strange.

Police officer Zhang Jinhong was quoted as saying by SCMP that Ms Qiu acted cautiously and attempted to disguise her tracks by appearing to be scrolling through the phone’s screen like any other customer at a gadget store. However, as soon as she left, store employees found the chewed cord and missing phone and called the cops. Further, security camera footage was checked and showed what had occurred. The police then arrested Ms Qiu outside her house. 

As per the outlet, Ms Qiu informed police that after losing her phone, she planned to buy a new one at a store, but when she saw the cost, she decided to steal it. She has been held until the completion of the inquiry.

The video has left many people surprised. “Doesn’t she know there are security cameras everywhere?” said a person.

Another user remarked, “She has strong teeth.”