Kentucky Apple store workers announce union effort led by 20-year-old specialist

Kentucky
Kentucky (Image credit: Apple)

What you need to know

  • Another set of Apple store workers is moving toward creating a union.
  • A new report claims employees at Kentucky's Oxmoor Center Mall may have enough support to win an election.
  • They are being led by a 20-year-old retail specialist.

A fourth group of Apple store workers in the U.S. have announced their plans to form a union, and believe they already have enough support to win an election.

According to a paywalled Bloomberg Law report, the workers at Apple's Oxmoor Center Mall store in the U.S. have today publicly announced their plans to unionize. A preview of the report states:

Workers at an Apple store in Louisville, Ky., are forming a union—and may even have enough support to win an election, according to the group's leader.

As the report notes this is the fourth such group of employees to publicly declare unionization efforts. Surprisingly, the workers are being led by a 20-year-old retail specialist by the name of Jay Hedgspeth. The report states that "workers are motivated to unionize by pandemic burnout, low pay relative to Apple's profits, and an increasingly metrics-driven culture that has left employees feeling disconnected from their work."

A LinkedIn profile for Hedgspeth reveals he has been a part-time specialist at the Louisville store since November 2021.

Three other Apple stores have already gone public with their plans to form unions to try and establish more favorable working conditions at Apple stores in the U.S.. Apple has reportedly issued retail store managers with anti-union talking points, and has been accused of heavy-handed union-busting tactics in stores in New York and Atlanta. filings from the Communications Workers of America sent to the National Labor Relations Board allege that Apple held mandatory anti-union speeches, restricted staff from posting fliers, and "interrogated" team members. Similarly, Apple was accused of holding "captive audience" meetings at its Cumberland Mall store in Atlanta.

Previously in a statement to iMore Apple said "We are fortunate to have incredible retail team members and we deeply value everything they bring to Apple. We are pleased to offer very strong compensation and benefits for full-time and part-time employees, including health care, tuition reimbursement, new parental leave, paid family leave, annual stock grants, and many other benefits."

iMore has reached out to the company for further comment on today's news.

Stephen Warwick
News Editor

Stephen Warwick has written about Apple for five years at iMore and previously elsewhere. He covers all of iMore's latest breaking news regarding all of Apple's products and services, both hardware and software. Stephen has interviewed industry experts in a range of fields including finance, litigation, security, and more. He also specializes in curating and reviewing audio hardware and has experience beyond journalism in sound engineering, production, and design. Before becoming a writer Stephen studied Ancient History at University and also worked at Apple for more than two years. Stephen is also a host on the iMore show, a weekly podcast recorded live that discusses the latest in breaking Apple news, as well as featuring fun trivia about all things Apple. Follow him on Twitter @stephenwarwick9