Apple Finalizes First Retail Union Contract With Maryland Store

[MacRumors]

Apple has reached a provisional agreement with its first unionized retail store in Towson, Maryland, marking a significant development in the company's labor relations (via Bloomberg).

Apple has agreed to a tentative collective bargaining agreement with retail employees at its Towson store, the first of its kind for the company's operations in the United States. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) Coalition of Organized Retail Employees (IAM CORE) announced the deal on Friday, detailing improvements in pay, work-life balance, and job security. This agreement is now pending a vote by the store's approximately 85 employees on August 6.

The proposed three-year contract includes an average pay raise of 10%, with increases in starting pay for 80% of job classifications. The agreement aims to improve work-life balance through enhanced scheduling protections for both full-time and part-time employees. The deal also includes limits on the use of contracted employees, a new transparency and accountability procedure for disciplinary action, and an updated severance clause to provide financial protection in the event of layoffs. The tentative agreement maintains all current benefits and includes a commitment to negotiate any future additions.

The Towson Apple store made headlines in June 2022 when its employees voted to join IAM, becoming the first Apple retail store in the United States to unionize. Since then, IAM CORE has been in negotiations with Apple management, with discussions starting in January 2023. Frustration over the slow pace of negotiations led to a strike authorization vote in May 2024. The Towson store agreement may set a precedent for labor negotiations at other Apple retail locations and could potentially influence unionization efforts across the company's 271 U.S. stores.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Article Link: Apple Finalizes First Retail Union Contract With Maryland Store

 

[peneaux]

I worked for a union before. It’s great when you’re starting and you don’t have much experience. But after you get some to show in your resume, you can negotiate yourself and go to where you’re more valued.

After I left the union, I got a 35% pay upgrade. Less BS from the union too.

For the young ones; don’t leave your job before finding another. Now and then look for options. It’s better to negotiate another job when you are still employed.

I do OnlyFans on the side but curvy trans girls don’t have that much demand these days.

 

[zilchfox]

Dang. All nice to see.

 

[Reverend Benny]

Didn't expect Apple to do this, but its nice to see that they are. What company is next in line to surprise the world with a similar move? Tesla?

 

[Someyoungguy]

This is good for Apple, too. Seeming to be intransigent on a union contract was a bad look.

 

[gleepskip]

It's a retail job LOL

 

[brofkand]

It's a retail job LOL

A retail job that “enhances lives”

 

[richpjr]

And the extra costs they incur because of this will be passed on to their customers.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

And the extra costs they incur because of this will be passed on to their customers.

So people should have crap wages so you can have a cheaper iDevice?

I'm not talking about you specifically, or even Apple, but I don't like the idea that we should have a underclass of people working for menial wages just to keep stuff cheap. In addition, the companies can take a profit cut for better wages, and would, if customers voted with their wallet and demanded it.

All that said, retail is retail, and will never be a great job.

 

[jdavid_rp]

And the extra costs they incur because of this will be passed on to their customers.

Surely they can just get half a penny less from every device they’re going to sell today to balance it out.

 

[richpjr]

So people should have crap wages so you can have a cheaper iDevice?

I'm not talking about you specifically, or even Apple, but I don't like the idea that we should have a underclass of people working for menial wages just to keep stuff cheap. The companies can take a profit cut for better wages, and would, if customers voted with their wallet.

All that said, retail is retail, and will never be a great job.

Artificially inflated wages hurt as many people as they help. Witness the number of restaurants shutting down in some states due to an increased minimum wage and the ones still in business forced to raise their prices to cover for it. The costs are always passed on to customers. It sucks for people with the low wages but just wait until AI really starts eliminating jobs in the not-too-distant future - people will really have something to complain about.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

Artificially inflated wages hurt as many people as they help. Witness the number of restaurants shutting down in some states due to an increased minimum wage and the ones still in business forced to raise their prices to cover for it. The costs are always passed on to customers. It sucks for people with the low wages but just wait until AI really starts eliminating jobs in the not-too-distant future - people will really have something to complain about.

If a business can't afford to pay a decent wage, they are a bad business idea and deserve to fail; restaurants included. Wages are being artificially deflated, not inflated, for the shareholders. I'm a shareholder, and still think it's crap.

As for AI, there are going to ton of negative business repercussions when they realize that AI doesn't do 4/5 of what was promised by the likes of silicon-valley grifters such as Sam Altman.

 

[DownUnderDan]

And the extra costs they incur because of this will be passed on to their customers.

Where as Tim's 40 to 80 million annual take home or the 400K+ annual of other exectutives at Apple are presumably not reflected at all in the cost of Apple products we purchase. Its just the hourly workers that work retail that are the problem. If you are concerned about the bottom line, ask Tim to take 1 million off his pay annualy and give it to everyone who is an employee at an Apple store and then every store member can have a decent payrise with no impact on the customer.

 

[gleepskip]

Where as Tims 6 million dollar bonus adds value presumably.

$37 per employee. He provided a stable environment for 160,000 people to have jobs.

 

[wonderings]

So people should have crap wages so you can have a cheaper iDevice?

I'm not talking about you specifically, or even Apple, but I don't like the idea that we should have a underclass of people working for menial wages just to keep stuff cheap. In addition, the companies can take a profit cut for better wages, and would, if customers voted with their wallet and demanded it.

All that said, retail is retail, and will never be a great job.

Do you think only people in unions have great wages? Lots of companies are non union and have happy work forces. Toyota in Woodstock Ontario Canada is union free, and unions have been trying to get in there for ages. Unions are their own industry now and don't necessarily help the individual, generally just the masses. If your union does not back you then you have little to no legal recourse. Unions are not good, and not all businesses are bad trying to screw their employees over.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

Do you think only people in unions have great wages? Lots of companies are non union and have happy work forces. Toyota in Woodstock Ontario Canada is union free, and unions have been trying to get in there for ages. Unions are their own industry now and don't necessarily help the individual, generally just the masses. If your union does not back you then you have little to no legal recourse. Unions are not good, and not all businesses are bad trying to screw their employees over.

Unions can be good or bad, it's not definitive. Businesses can be good or bad, it's also not definitive...but lower wage jobs often do better with a union.

I've been in a union.

 

[icanhazmac]

Artificially inflated wages hurt as many people as they help.

This!

Walk into a Home Depot or Lowe's, at least near me, and you will find ZERO manned checkout lanes! Every lane was closed and only the self-checkouts were open with a single employee watching the 6 self-checkouts. Convenience stores and supermarkets are mirroring this experience.

You can price your job right out of existence.

 

[NT1440]

This!

Walk into a Home Depot or Lowe's, at least near me, and you will find ZERO manned checkout lanes! Every lane was closed and only the self-checkouts were open with a single employee watching the 6 self-checkouts. Convenience stores and supermarkets are mirroring this experience.

You can price your job right out of existence.

Yes, it’s the low wages workers who forced that, not TWO decades of an industry (retail automations) doing everything possible to sell their products promising to minimize headcount and maximize profits.

Some of you people keep pointing at the natural results of capitalism as somehow indicative of *workers* overstepping. I truly don’t get it.

Always blame the workers, ignore the $54 trillion wealth transfer happening under your feet since the last great theft (we call that recession).

 

[CapitalIdea]

So people should have crap wages so you can have a cheaper iDevice?

I'm not talking about you specifically, or even Apple, but I don't like the idea that we should have a underclass of people working for menial wages just to keep stuff cheap. In addition, the companies can take a profit cut for better wages, and would, if customers voted with their wallet and demanded it.

All that said, retail is retail, and will never be a great job.

You specifically cited an "iDevice" and then immediately claimed you were not talking specifically about Apple. That means you lied. Also, the store employees are paid more than others in similar retail jobs, so the claim about "crap wages" for having to literally walk to the back and grab a box for a living is laughable (and another lie).

 

[NT1440]

You specifically cited an "iDevice" and then immediately claimed you were not talking specifically about Apple. That means you lied. Also, the store employees are paid more than others in similar retail jobs, so the claim about "crap wages" for having to literally walk to the back and grab a box for a living is laughable (and another lie).

Tell us you haven’t worked in retail in the last decade without telling us…

Better wages in an industry that doesn’t have livable wages doesn’t get you out of the fact that the wages are still too low. Getting an extra $2 an hour compared to a Target doesn’t mean you’re on easy street.

 

[gleepskip]

Yes, it’s the low wages workers who forced that, not TWO decades of an industry (retail automations) doing everything possible to sell their products promising to minimize headcount and maximize profits.

Start your own company, hire thousands, pay people $50/hr and show these companies how it should be done.

 

[richpjr]

Where as Tim's 40 to 80 million annual take home or the 400K+ annual of other exectutives at Apple are presumably not reflected at all in the cost of Apple products we purchase. Its just the hourly workers that work retail that are the problem. If you are concerned about the bottom line, ask Tim to take 1 million off his pay annualy and give it to everyone who is an employee at an Apple store and then every store member can have a decent payrise with no impact on the customer.

Where did I ever make that point? Of course they are passed on, just like everything else. Cook is massively overpaid (like most CEOs) and we are paying for it.

 

[CapitalIdea]

Tell us you haven’t worked in retail in the last decade without telling us…

Better wages in an industry that doesn’t have livable wages doesn’t get you out of the fact that the wages are still too low. Getting an extra $2 an hour compared to a Target doesn’t mean you’re on easy street.

Instead of trying to imply that I don't know what I'm talking about or that I'm unfamiliar with retail, explain why you chose to lie (twice) in a short post. I get that you're bothered by being called on that, and I have no interest in debating the merits of unions (which I generally support), but the fact remains that you did not tell the truth.

Let's try another angle then. Exactly how much do you think these employees deserve to make, given the skills needed to do that job? Instead of a nebulous "livable wage" argument that literally varies by neighborhood, explain your math and what you think the wage should be, and how that makes sense for Apple. And no, "well they make enough to afford it" is not an argument.

 

[icanhazmac]

Yes, it’s the low wages workers who forced that, not TWO decades of an industry (retail automations) doing everything possible to sell their products promising to minimize headcount and maximize profits.

I would say it is a bit of both. Yes, automations are a natural progression of any business as technologies present themselves. I wouldn't just blame that on capitalism but will concede it probably accelerates it. On the other side, artificially increased wages also accelerate the development of automations. How can you fault a for profit business for knowing how to do math? Working the cash register at McD's or a supermarket was never meant to have a household supporting wage, you are not providing $20/hr worth of contribution to the business. If one hamburger supplier was 50% higher than another, for the same product, any prudent business owner would stop buying from the higher priced one.

As @richpjr stated, look at California, the ridiculous increase in fast food wages has had, what I would argue, a net negative effect with closures, automation and reduced hours. Then people complain about the lack of a "dollar menu".

 

[NT1440]

Instead of trying to imply that I don't know what I'm talking about or that I'm unfamiliar with retail, explain why you chose to lie (twice) in a short post. I get that you're bothered by being called on that, and I have no interest in debating the merits of unions (which I generally support), but the fact remains that you did not tell the truth.

Let's try another angle then. Exactly how much do you think these employees deserve to make, given the skills needed to do that job? Instead of a nebulous "livable wage" argument that literally varies by neighborhood, explain your math and what you think the wage should be, and how that makes sense for Apple. And no, "well they make enough to afford it" is not an argument.

Huh? Did you just confuse me with some other conversation you were already having?