Apple Store in Maryland Makes History by Voting to Unionize

Apple Store employees in Maryland have made history by voting to officially unionize, becoming the first Apple retail location to do so in the U.S. after efforts by Apple to calm down unionization efforts.

applestoresantamonica
As reported by CNBC, employees at the ‌Apple Store‌ in Towson, Maryland voted 65 for and 33 against a call to join the Machinists Union. 110 employees were eligible to vote Wednesday through Saturday evening. The employees are hopeful the new move will encourage Apple to provide better pay and working condition, both of which the company has already pledged to do.

As noted by CNBC, the National Labor Relations Board still needs to verify the votes before Apple must begin negotiations with the union.

In a video shared in May, Apple's head of retail and people, Deirdre O'Brien, said that employees have a "right to join a union" but added that it's also employees right to "not join a union." "We have a relationship that is based on an open and collaborative and direct engagement, which I feel could fundamentally change if a store is represented by a union under a collective bargaining agreement," O'Brien added.

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.

Popular Stories

iOS 26 Feature

iOS 26.1 to iOS 26.4 Will Add These New Features to Your iPhone

Saturday October 18, 2025 11:00 am PDT by
iOS 26 was released last month, but the software train never stops, and iOS 26.1 beta testing is already underway. So far, iOS 26.1 makes both Apple Intelligence and Live Translation on compatible AirPods available in additional languages, and it includes some other minor changes across the Apple Music, Calendar, Photos, Clock, and Safari apps. More features and changes will follow in future ...
ios 26 1 liquid glass opaque

iOS 26.1 Beta 4 Lets Users Control Liquid Glass Transparency with New Toggle

Monday October 20, 2025 10:57 am PDT by
With the fourth betas of iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, and macOS 26.1, Apple has introduced a new setting that's designed to allow users to customize the look of Liquid Glass. The toggle lets users select from a clear look for Liquid Glass, or a tinted look. Clear is the current Liquid Glass design, which is more transparent and shows the background underneath buttons, bars, and menus, while tinted ...
iphone air thickness

Apple Said to Cut iPhone Air Production Amid Underwhelming Sales

Friday October 17, 2025 8:29 am PDT by
Apple plans to cut production of the iPhone Air amid underwhelming sales performance, Japan's Mizuho Securities believes (via The Elec). The Japanese investment banking and securities firm claims that the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are seeing higher sales than their predecessors during the same period last year, while the standard iPhone 17 is a major success, performing...
iOS 26

iOS 26.0.2 Update for iPhones Coming Soon

Friday October 17, 2025 7:35 am PDT by
Apple's software engineers continue to internally test iOS 26.0.2, according to MacRumors logs, which have been a reliable indicator of upcoming iOS versions. iOS 26.0.2 will be a minor update that addresses bugs and/or security vulnerabilities, but we do not know any specific details yet. The update will likely be released by the end of next week. Last month, Apple released iOS 26.0.1,...
Apple iPad Pro hero M5

New iPad Pro Has Six Key Upgrades Beyond M5 Chip

Saturday October 18, 2025 10:57 am PDT by
While the new iPad Pro's headline feature is the M5 chip, the device has some other changes, including N1 and C1X chips, faster storage speeds, and more. With the M5 chip, the new iPad Pro has up to a 20% faster CPU and up to a 40% faster GPU compared to the previous model with the M4 chip, according to Geekbench 6 results. Keep in mind that 256GB and 512GB configurations have a 9-core CPU,...
iPhone Siri Glow

Some Apple Employees Have 'Concerns' About iOS 26.4's Revamped Siri

Sunday October 19, 2025 7:39 am PDT by
iOS 26.4 is expected to introduce a revamped version of Siri powered by Apple Intelligence, but not everyone is satisfied with how well it works. In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said some of Apple's software engineers have "concerns" about the overhauled Siri's performance. However, he did not provide any specific details about the shortcomings. iOS 26.4 will...
HomePod mini and Apple TV

Apple's Next Rumored Products: New HomePod Mini, Apple TV, and More

Thursday October 16, 2025 9:13 am PDT by
Apple on Wednesday updated the 14-inch MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, and Vision Pro with its next-generation M5 chip, but previous rumors have indicated that the company still plans to announce at least a few additional products before the end of the year. The following Apple products have at one point been rumored to be updated in 2025, although it is unclear if the timeframe for any of them has...
maxresdefault

Here's How the iOS 26.1 Transparency Toggle Changes Liquid Glass

Monday October 20, 2025 1:55 pm PDT by
With the fourth beta of iOS 26.1, Apple added a toggle that makes Liquid Glass more opaque and reduces transparency. We tested the beta to see where the toggle works and what it looks like. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. If you have the latest iOS 26.1 beta, you can go to Settings > Display and Brightness to get to the new option. Tap on Liquid Glass, then...
m4 macbook air blue

M5 MacBook Air Coming Spring 2026 With M5 Mac Studio and Mac Mini in Development

Thursday October 16, 2025 3:57 pm PDT by
Apple plans to launch MacBook Air models equipped with the new M5 chip in spring 2026, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Apple is also working on M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pro models that will come early in the year. Neither the MacBook Pro models nor the MacBook Air models are expected to get design changes, with Apple focusing on simple chip upgrades. In the case of the MacBook Pro, a m...

Top Rated Comments

ww2_1943 Avatar
44 months ago

Unionization makes little sense for retail employees. These are high turnover entry-level positions.
Grocery stores in my state are union. I used to work in them during college and a few years after. While there was high turnover, there were people who made it a career. I was part of a meat cutters union , even though I worked in deli and seafood. I didn't appreciate it at the time, but as a part time worker I was actually eligible for no cost health insurance. It was a pretty decent plan too. They still have the same no employee cost plan today.

In another store I watched the union get a co-workers job back. They fired him after he couldn't show up for work because his kid was in the hospital! Insane stuff. That store was a nightmare.
Score: 54 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bLackjackj Avatar
44 months ago

More Apple stores may follow this. I wouldn’t be surprised but this seems like a bad move. Since Apple can easily close down this store and move its location. Thus, not having to deal with a union.
Actually its fantastic move for all the staff and offers greater protections. Apple will not close down the store, as they would face multiple lawsuits and bad publicity. They are a Public company at the end of the day.
Score: 34 Votes (Like | Disagree)
vipergts2207 Avatar
44 months ago

Unionization makes little sense for retail employees. These are high turnover entry-level positions.
Apparently the actual employees disagree with you.
Score: 34 Votes (Like | Disagree)
swingerofbirch Avatar
44 months ago
I don't know a lot about unions, but I know Apple has left them out there like canon fodder in the middle of a pandemic while their corporate employees are only just starting to go back in person.

I worked for Apple as a contractor where I was a de facto Apple employee but not technically one (so that Apple could avoid labor laws and paying their share of social security payroll tax). In our training we were told we were the face of Apple and that to the customer we *were* Apple (and to that point, we had to lie and say we worked in an Apple call center). We were not paid like we were Apple or the face of it.
Score: 30 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Fabian90 Avatar
44 months ago
Lots of people with Stockholm syndrome here.
Big corporations are not your friend nor care about you. Unions balance the power structure a bit between workers and corporations.
There are only few countries where the working conditions are as as bad in the USA. Almost no paid time off, almost no social security… have a look at Europe.
Score: 28 Votes (Like | Disagree)
zilchfox Avatar
44 months ago

Shut it down.
Labor unions built America.
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)