Apple Reaches Its First-Ever Retail Union Contract Deal In US

(Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. has reached a tentative collective bargaining agreement with retail employees in Maryland, the International Association of Machinists said Friday, a first for the company’s US stores.

The deal is subject to approval by the roughly 85 employees in the bargaining unit, who are slated to vote on it Aug. 6. The agreement includes rules about scheduling, severance, and sub-contracting, and requires that any discipline not be “arbitrary, capricious or without merit,” an IAM spokesperson said. The three-year deal will increase pay by an average of 10% and maintains the status quo on healthcare, retirement, and staffing, according to the union.

The Maryland store is one of two unionized sites among Apple’s roughly 270 US locations. Both were organized in 2022, and since then contract talks have also been underway at an Oklahoma City store that unionized with the Communications Workers of America. 

Both IAM and CWA have been attempting to expand their footholds to other Apple locations around the country, but efforts have so far come up short. Employees’ assessments of what their peers in Maryland won in their contract talks could either ignite or subdue interest in organizing other stores.

In an emailed statement, the IAM’s negotiating committee said it planned to “build on this success in store after store and grow the power” it created at the Towson, Maryland site. “We are giving our members a voice in their futures and a strong first step toward further gains.”

In May, employees at the Towson store voted to authorize a potential strike, accusing the company of refusing to fairly negotiate.

An Apple spokesperson declined to comment on the deal. The company has said it was committed to engaging with the union “respectfully and in good faith.”

In the ongoing Oklahoma contract talks, only a few issues remain outstanding, according to employee Michael Forsythe, a member of CWA’s bargaining committee. “We view the news of Towson’s contract as a very positive thing for us,” Forsythe said in a text message.

Apple is one of many prominent workplaces where unions have scored landmark US organizing victories since the start of the pandemic, including Microsoft Corp.’s gaming studios, an Amazon.com Inc. warehouse, a Volkswagen AG plant, a Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. restaurant, and hundreds of Starbucks Corp. cafes. 

Most of those unions have yet to reach collective bargaining agreements.

(Updates with union and company comment starting in second paragraph)

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