Apple Towson Town Center
The conflict between Apple and its Reston retail store union members is on full display in a new video, highlighting negotiation struggles, discipline disparities, and more.
The video was shared to X, formerly Twitter, on Friday, and is a seven-and-a-half minute long inside look into contract negotiations between Apple and IAM CORE members.
"We go in there and we'll make proposals, and we get back, 'Well, here's our counter,' after three hours of negotiating, and it's a screenshot of of the web page of, you know, what our current policy is," Eric Brown, an Apple Store employee and IAM CORE member, says in the video.
— More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) May 31, 2024EXCLUSIVE: We got an inside look at contract negotiations at the first Apple store to unionize.
The picture is damning for a company that claims its "soul is our people."
Apple has stalled for 2 years while cracking down on unionized workers, forcing around 50 to leave. pic.twitter.com/JQWnOhRnMf
The union alleges that Apple is stalling negotiations as much as possible. That's a claim it first made over a year ago in April 2023.
In the video, union members say they're pushing for fair wages to help keep up with inflation and the cost of living. One member points out that Apple's sustained profit growth means the tech giant could easily afford to give workers better pay.
However, allegedly Apple has struck back at union members, forcing around 50 to leave in the two years since the union formed.
"We're seeing like six to eight discipline-related conversations per day," Billy Jarboe, Apple Store worker and union member, says.
Union member and worker Chaya Barrett notes that Apple has policies that disproportionately negatively impact employees who may have children or work two jobs. Apple requires retail employees to have four hours of customer-facing time, but when Towson Town Center shifted its closing time from 9:00 pm to 8:00 pm, many workers could not meet the requirement.
The union also points out that Apple has since rolled out changes requested by the union — to everywhere except the unionized store. It believes that the move is retaliatory.
While this practice is illegal, the consequences are not strict enough to force Apple to comply with the law.
Union negotiations continue to trudge along. On May 8, IAM CORE members put forth a motion to strike if no meaningful progress was made. On May 12, workers at the store voted in favor of the strike.