Apple, a company from Silicon Valley that has previously shown little interest in unions, has now made a remarkable shift. An Apple Store in Maryland receives a collective bargaining agreement, marking a milestone in the company's history.
In the USA, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) and its Coalition of Organized Retail Employees (IAM CORE) have reached a tentative agreement with Apple. The aim of the negotiations was to improve work-life balance, increase wages, and ensure job security for employees.
Around 85 employees of the Apple retail store in Towson, Maryland, which is the first in the country to be unionized, will vote on the tentative agreement on August 6.
With the conclusion of a preliminary agreement with Apple, we are giving our members a voice in shaping their future and making a significant initial step towards further improvements," said the union's negotiating committee in a statement. "Together, we can build on this success in every single store.
Apple did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The agreement was reached after the store employees voted to strike in May, as the negotiations with management had not yielded 'satisfactory results' for more than a year.
The store in Maryland is one of only two unionized Apple locations in the entire country. The employees there voted to unionize in June 2022, a few months before the employees of a second Apple store in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, joined the Communications Workers of America union. The second store has yet to secure a contract with the tech company.
In recent years, unions in the U.S. have made headlines with voting victories, including at an Amazon warehouse in New York City, a Chipotle location in Michigan, and hundreds of Starbucks locations across the country. However, many of these sites have not secured collective bargaining agreements.
Tech corporations from Silicon Valley are known for their opposition to unions. Apple is no exception.
This preliminary agreement could signal further changes in Apple's corporate policy and possibly for other tech giants as well. It remains to be seen how the voting and subsequent developments will unfold.
