Apple and union workers forge path-breaking collective bargaining agreement

Apple has tentatively agreed to its first collective bargaining contract with the first unionised company store in the United States, marking a major development in the tech giant's labour relations. The Coalition of Organized Retail Employees of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, which represents workers at a retail location in Maryland, announced the agreement on Friday evening. Under the proposed three-year contract, workers would receive an average 10 per cent pay bump among other perks.

The contract must be ratified by approximately 85 employees at the Towson store in Baltimore's suburbs. The vote is set for August 6.

“By reaching a tentative agreement with Apple, we are giving our members a voice in their futures and a strong first step toward further gains,” the union’s negotiating committee said in a statement. “Together, we can build on this success in store after store.”

Add WION as a Preferred Source

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The breakthrough comes after months of very public, and at times contentious, negotiations. Employees at the Towson store voted in May to allow a strike if it came to that, saying more than a year of negotiations with management had been fruitless.

This Maryland store is just one of two unionised Apple stores in the country. This store voted to unionise in June 2022. Another store, in Oklahoma City, unionised with the Communications Workers of America a few months later, but has yet to secure an Apple contract.

The latest wave of unions in organising workers at top companies has been rather quite successful—from a historic victory at an Amazon warehouse in New York City to a Chipotle store in Michigan and a number of Starbucks stores across the country. Many of these new unions, though, have not secured contracts.

The tentative agreement between Apple and its Towson employees is a milestone in labour's continued push to unionise for better wages and benefits. How this vote goes will determine whether this agreement sets a precedent for other unionised Apple stores and eventually influences labour relations in the broader retail and tech industries.