Apple faces growing labor unrest at its retail stores

Apple faces plenty of challenges this year including regulatory scrutiny in Washington, sluggish sales in China and a competitive landscape in AI. Now its leaders also have to contend with labor unrest.

Apple faces plenty of challenges this year including regulatory scrutiny in Washington, sluggish sales in China and a competitive landscape in AI. Now, its leaders also have to contend with labor unrest. Apple store workers in Towson, Maryland, made history in June 2022 when they voted to form the first union at one of the tech giant’s sleek US stores. Since 2023, the worker group outside of Baltimore has been in contract negotiations with Apple management. Now, workers are weighing a strike. Saying management has yet to meet their core demands, the Maryland workers are holding a strike authorization vote on Saturday, one of the strongest labor actions taken against the Big Tech company yet. And it’s far from the only labor challenge Apple is battling in the US. Employees in New Jersey are holding a union election this weekend. In addition, the National Labor Relations Board this week upheld a decision alleging Apple’s union-busting tactics in New York City. The company also has unfair labor practice complaints against it in front of labor judges right now (Apple denies these allegations). The labor wave that has hit Apple retail stores echoes the mass organizing that began at other influential companies in the United States, such as Starbucks and Amazon. As Apple grew to become the world’s first $3 trillion company, a tight labor market coming out of the Covid-19 pandemic exposed labor conditions and inequalities front-facing workers in places such as stores and warehouses faced. “It speaks to a growing frustration among workers and also a contagion in labor activity, which is when one group of workers stands up and inspires others,” Kate Bronfenbrenner, the Director of Labor Education Research at Cornell’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, said.