Apple just closed its first unionized store. What does that mean for its workers?

In 2022, an Apple Store outside of Baltimore became the first in the U.S. to unionize, fueled by worker frustrations over how they were treated during the pandemic. Two years later, they won a contract that enshrined protections that seemed designed to enable other workers to follow in their footsteps. The contract secured a cap on the number of temporary workers Apple could hire and carved out a process by which the union could pursue cases on behalf of workers who they believed had been unfairly disciplined or dismissed. But those wins may have proved misleading. This week, the store permanently shut its doors—a decision that Apple justified by citing the “departure of several retailers and declining conditions” at the mall where it was located. The store closure will leave over half of the store’s 70 unionized workers without a job, according to a report in The New York Times. Apple did give workers the option to find employment at another location, but they were required to apply for the job rather than simply being transferred. The union representing those workers—the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM)—has framed this as retaliation, arguing that Apple had not allowed those workers to easily transfer to another store location. In a complaint filed with the National Labor Relations Board, the union claimed Apple had “discriminated against IAM-represented workers in regards to their terms and conditions of employment in order to discourage them from exercising their rights.” For its part, Apple has denied this is retaliation and insists the company is complying with the terms of the collective bargaining agreement that the union reached in 2024, which entitles workers to 12 weeks of severance pay. “We strongly disagree with the claims made, and we will continue to abide by the agreement that was negotiated and agreed with the union,” an Apple spokesperson said in a statement to Fast Company. “We look forward to presenting all of t