Apple has agreed to a tentative collective bargaining agreement with the country’s first unionized business store.
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers’ Coalition of Organised Retail Employees, representing employees at a Maryland retail location, announced Friday evening that it had reached a three-year agreement with the company to increase pay by an average of 10% and provide other benefits to workers.
Apple Has Reached Its First-Ever Union Contract With Store Employees In Maryland
“By reaching a tentative agreement, we are giving our members a voice in their futures and taking a strong first step towards further gains,” the union’s bargaining committee said in a statement. “Together, we can build on this success in store after store.”
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Workers at the store authorized a walkout in May, claiming that talks with management for more than a year had failed to provide “satisfactory outcomes.”
Apple Has Reached Its First-Ever Union Contract With Store Employees In Maryland
The Maryland store is one of the country’s only two unionized locations. Employees voted in favor of the union in June 2022, a few months before workers at another Apple facility in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, joined the Communications Workers of America. The second store has not signed a contract with the IT company.
Unions have won headline-grabbing election victories in recent years, including at an Amazon warehouse in New York City, a Chipotle restaurant in Michigan, and hundreds of Starbucks locations nationwide. However, many of them still need to secure contracts.
SOURCE | AP
