In June 2022—and with the support of the Machinists Union—workers at a Towson, Maryland Apple store became the first unionized Apple store in the United States. But approaching two years later and after a full year's worth of negotiations, the store is still without a contract. Now the store's workers are threatening Apple with a strike action if they continue to bargain in bad faith.
This decision to potentially strike came earlier this month after workers expressed their frustration with the pace of bargaining. According to the Wall Street Journal "the two sides have come to tentative agreements on 25 issues, among them topics such as how to handle grievance and arbitration cases, performance reviews, nondiscrimination policies and more, according to the union." But no agreement has been come to regarding wages, overtime, or scheduling—all of which are perhaps the most important issues for workers at the store. According to the union scheduling practices at the store are "unpredictable" and wages have not kept pace with inflation or cost of living, but Apple refuses to compromise on proposals in these areas. (The union has also collected data of its own which suggests that workers do not trust Apple to respect their unionization rights, or to bargain in good faith with them if they unionize—not unwarranted given that the company notably withheld bonuses from the Towson store after its unionization.)
No date for any strike action has been scheduled, but presumably if one occurs that will come following the next bargaining session on May 21.
