Workers at Apple Store in Towson Are First to Unionize

By Ivy Lyons

Workers at an Apple store in Towson became the first in the nation to unionize on Saturday.

The Apple Coalition of Organized Retail Employees (AppleCORE) celebrated as the Baltimore County Apple store joined the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union (IAMAW). It is the first store related to the tech giant in the United States where workers have voted to unionize, though others are expected to follow suit.

The historic union vote began Wednesday in the Towson Town Center — the mall housing the Apple store. The vote was completed Saturday.

The win was 2-to-1, with 65 workers voting in favor and 33 opposing the move comes amid a broad push for unions across major restaurants and retailers across the United States, including Apple.

AppleCORE shared a letter with Tim Cook, the Apple CEO, asking that the company stand behind its move to organize and avoid anti-union behavior.

“We have come together as a union because of a deep love of our role as workers within the company and out of care for the company itself,” the union wrote to Cook.

The National Labor Relations Board and Apple have yet to comment on the unionizing effort.

The move was hailed by several Democratic candidates for governor on Saturday.

“This is a big deal,” Tom Perez, a former U.S. Labor secretary, said on Twitter. “All across our country we’re seeing workers demanding fairness and dignity. So proud that the nation’s first Apple store to form a union is right here in Baltimore County.”

Another candidate, Comptroller Peter Franchot (D), tweeted, “The eyes of the nation were on Maryland today, and our workers delivered a historic victory.” A third Democratic gubernatorial contender, former U.S. Education Secretary John King, called it “great news.”

As part of Maryland Matters’ content sharing agreement with WTOP, we feature this article from Ivy Lyons. Click here for the WTOP News website. Josh Kurtz contributed to this report.

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