Apple Hit With Unfair Labor Practice Charge for Refusing to Transfer Unionized Towson Workers

[dwaite]

Data shows that from 1979 to 2017, the decline of unions depressed the median male worker's hourly wage by $2.49.

And this is from the Department of the Treasury's website.

I was unable to find this statement on the Department of the Treasury's website. Link?

 

[The_Gream]

That's true, but we shouldn't just accept scraps. People deserve to live decent lives in exchange for work. And Apple can afford it. There's no excuse not to

That would be nice but capitalism rewards exploiting employees. This has *always* been a problem, and it's why unions exist. Because unless you have a union, companies don't *have* to take care of their employees. And that means a lot of them won't. Unions level the playing field and make companies listen when they don't want to. That's why greedy corporations hate them

I agree. If companies acted like that, we wouldn't need unions. Until they do, unions are important

We don’t need unions, we have a government,

State Minimum Wage Laws

www.dol.gov

And looking at that site, a lot of the people have voted in their states to increase the minimum wage. Yet, the Federal Government still thinks, 7.25 an hr is acceptable, and it’s been that way since July 2009. How many elections have taken place since then, and no elected representatives have sought to increase it?

Missouri actually passed a law for sick time (I believe it was a ballot vote), that was better than what most companies provided. The companies lobbied and it got vetoed by the governor.

We don’t need unions, we need state and federal governments to understand that THE PEOPLE matter.

Personally, I am a sort of religious person and I am looking forward to the judgement day, cause a lot of people are going to ‘made’ aware of all the things they have done and it’s going to suck for them (I will be right there with them).

Paraphrasing, but the Bible quotes Christ as saying, “Even as you do it unto the least of these you do it unto me”.

That sounds a lot like, if you treat people with love and kindness (etc), you are treating Christ with love and kindness. But, if you treat people with disrespect and hate (etc) then you are treating Christ with disrespect and hate.

 

[Lerxt]

Thanks God I don't have to work in the toxic hellhole of the US Labor market.

 

[Mr_Ed]

Apple is a trillion dollar company. They can easily afford to pay their employees a living wage. This isn't about a false belief that Apple has unlimited resources. It's about the realistic understanding that people deserve to be paid fairly.

Just this year, Apple paid $2 Billion for an AI company. If they have $2 billion for corporate acquisitions, they have plenty of money to pay their employees fairly

I think it's sad we live in a society where people are more concerned about corporate welfare for trillion dollar companies than the people working next to us. People matter. Corporations come second

Saying people should be paid “fairly” sounds nice enough without any added nuance or the reality checks of the job market. Apple retail employees don’t exist in a vacuum in that job market just because Apple happens to be a $trillion corporation. Like it or not, starting pay for a typical retail employee is less than that of a teacher, police officer, EMT, software engineer, auto mechanic, or plumber because it’s an easy position to fill, requiring little to no skills training, study, or inherent risk to the employee. Indications are that Apple is compensating (pay+benefits) retail employees well - for a retail employee. We can all have our opinions about how much of a company’s bottom line should go to employee pay/benefits but we don’t get to decide that unless it’s our company to run.

 

[The_Gream]

Thanks God I don't have to work in the toxic hellhole of the US Labor market.

That’s what happens when you have mostly unregulated capitalism, but then you have the other side as well, over regulation that stifles innovation.

Both of which are harmful to the people.

 

[MNGR]

I can’t speak for @The_Gream but I honestly took his comment to mean Apple employees, presumably at a non-union store, were being well compensated, not a complaint that they should make less.

The fallacy in your way of thinking is that it presumes corporate resources are infinite. You can raise wages of unskilled labor up to a point, then some of them are let go, and where feasible, investment in automation goes up to replace even more. In Apple’s case all they have to do is pay slightly better, with better benefits than the average retail position and they’ll never run out of willing candidates. It may be “tech”, but this is still a retail job that pretty much anyone can do.

Edit: wrong user name cited

You mean living California where fast food places had to reduce employees or close due to wafes

 

[Mr_Ed]

You mean liyin California where fast food places had to reduce employees or close due to wafes

I’m not in California, but just this last Friday I was fasting for a blood draw at my doctor’s office, and I was really hungry afterwards. I stopped at a McDonald’s (not a favorite, but it was convenient) around 10:20am. Not busy there as I only saw one customer sitting at a table. Not a single employee at the two cash registers. Instead there was a row of 4 large touch screen stations where I used one to place my eat-in order, grabbed a numbered plastic banner, then sat at a table. A few minutes later an employee came out of the back and brought me my order. That was the one and only employee I saw while I was there. I swear maybe 5 years ago there was always at least one employee ready to take orders and I could see others working in the area.

 

[The_Gream]

You mean liyin California where fast food places had to reduce employees or close due to wafes

Just a FYI

Cost of Living by State — All 50 US States Ranked 2026

Explore cost of living rankings for all 50 US states. Compare each state by cost index, median rent, home prices, and household income to find your best fit.

costoflivingusa.com

State Minimum Wage Laws

www.dol.gov

Missouri has one of the lowest cost of living while having one of the highest minimum wages. While California has a high minimum wage, but the cost of living is on the extremely high end.

 

[falkon-engine]

The real issue honestly is the decline of foot traffic in malls. Which are causing many stores to close. And there's no guarantee that there would have been enough open positions at nearby Apple stores.

And in terms of nearby stoes, what's the nearest Apple Store to Towson? There's Apple Columbia, Annapolis, Bethesda, then there is a store in Washington DC and a few in Virginia. What else is there? How many of the employees are able or even willing to relocate or commute to a store that is further away.

The economics of stores are changing and it's having serious effects on people's livelihoods.

 

[Fallforward]

These are unskilled retail salespeople. They don’t deserve a union. They can be replaced in 30 seconds, literally.

Good grief Ayn Rand, protection of weak human beings versus powerful employers is exactly the mission of unions. With some unions, like police, these protections have gone too far. But protection against arbitrary dismissal and replacement can create a better work environment with rules like just‑cause termination standards.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Apple is a trillion dollar company. They can easily afford to pay their employees a living wage. This isn't about a false belief that Apple has unlimited resources. It's about the realistic understanding that people deserve to be paid fairly.

Just this year, Apple paid $2 Billion for an AI company. If they have $2 billion for corporate acquisitions, they have plenty of money to pay their employees fairly

I think it's sad we live in a society where people are more concerned about corporate welfare for trillion dollar companies than the people working next to us. People matter. Corporations come second

As a publicly traded company, I doubt Apple has the freedom to pay their employees twice or greater the going rate of retail employees in a given area. I suppose the shareholders could put that to a vote…

 

[KPOM]

Genuinely curious as I have no experience with unions. If Apple were to transfer those employees to another store, I assume there is a limit in distance they would be willing to move them to. But let's say there is a store within that mark and all the employees elected to transfer. What does that mean to the employees at the new store that are not unionized? I would not think it is realistic to expect Apple maintains double the staff presence at the alternate location so how is that managed? Assuming the "new" store is not unionized, what does that mean for the employees transferring there? Would the new store be held to the same union rules even though it is not unionized?

I think the agreement said that if Apple opened a store within 50 miles then employees would be offered positions there. However, the closest locations to Towson are in or near DC, which is just over 50 miles away.

 

[jaymc]

I’m not in California, but just this last Friday I was fasting for a blood draw at my doctor’s office, and I was really hungry afterwards. I stopped at a McDonald’s (not a favorite, but it was convenient) around 10:20am. Not busy there as I only saw one customer sitting at a table. Not a single employee at the two cash registers. Instead there was a row of 4 large touch screen stations where I used one to place my eat-in order, grabbed a numbered plastic banner, then sat at a table. A few minutes later an employee came out of the back and brought me my order. That was the one and only employee I saw while I was there. I swear maybe 5 years ago there was always at least one employee ready to take orders and I could see others working in the area.

Curious ... did the only employee ask for a tip?

 

[AeroEd]

Are you weirdos that hate unions millionaires?

They are not millionaires probably but will pay more taxes to pay for non unions workers Medicaid, housing subsidies, snap program, education subsidies etc

 

[maxoakland]

As a publicly traded company, I doubt Apple has the freedom to pay their employees twice or greater the going rate of retail employees in a given area. I suppose the shareholders could put that to a vote…

People always make that excuse and it's nonsense. Apple has the freedom to pay their employees whatever they want to. Think about it: if your statement were true, corporations would also have to worry about paying their CEOs. But they don't. They can pay them whatever they want

 

[maxoakland]

We don’t need unions, we have a government,

You think the US government works for everyday Americans instead of billionaires and corporations?

State Minimum Wage Laws

www.dol.gov

And looking at that site, a lot of the people have voted in their states to increase the minimum wage. Yet, the Federal Government still thinks, 7.25 an hr is acceptable, and it’s been that way since July 2009. How many elections have taken place since then, and no elected representatives have sought to increase it?

Great question. This is exactly what I'm talking about when I say we need unions

Missouri actually passed a law for sick time (I believe it was a ballot vote), that was better than what most companies provided. The companies lobbied and it got vetoed by the governor.

We don’t need unions, we need state and federal governments to understand that THE PEOPLE matter.

We do need that. But the only way to make that happen is organizing together collectively, which is what a union is. Unions are a great way to build political power to counter the political organization and power of corporations

Personally, I am a sort of religious person and I am looking forward to the judgement day, cause a lot of people are going to ‘made’ aware of all the things they have done and it’s going to suck for them (I will be right there with them).

Paraphrasing, but the Bible quotes Christ as saying, “Even as you do it unto the least of these you do it unto me”.

That sounds a lot like, if you treat people with love and kindness (etc), you are treating Christ with love and kindness. But, if you treat people with disrespect and hate (etc) then you are treating Christ with disrespect and hate.

It does sound a lot like that, doesn't it?

 

[maxoakland]

That’s what happens when you have mostly unregulated capitalism, but then you have the other side as well, over regulation that stifles innovation.

Both of which are harmful to the people.

Unregulated capitalism is more harmful. I mean, we'd all be a lot happier if we traded the last 10 years of "innovation" (which is 90% ensh*ttification) for regulations to require better living conditions for everybody

But it's a false choice anyway. We can have regulation and innovation. In fact, regulations *improve* innovation when done properly. For example, look at the way corporations keep getting bigger and bigger and buying each other. That lack of competition has lead to stagnant innovation (when was the last time Apple actually innovated) and a poor job market

So regulations improve innovation when it's things like antitrust. And it improves people's lives when it's things like a reasonable minimum wage

 

[The_Gream]

Unregulated capitalism is more harmful. I mean, we'd all be a lot happier if we traded the last 10 years of "innovation" (which is 90% ensh*ttification) for regulations to require better living conditions for everybody

But it's a false choice anyway. We can have regulation and innovation. In fact, regulations *improve* innovation when done properly. For example, look at the way corporations keep getting bigger and bigger and buying each other. That lack of competition has lead to stagnant innovation (when was the last time Apple actually innovated) and a poor job market

So regulations improve innovation when it's things like antitrust. And it improves people's lives when it's things like a reasonable minimum wage

Yeah.

My understanding, there was a shift Pre-WW2 and Post-WW2.

The USA was debt free. We had some sort of wealth tax. Prices were somewhat reasonable. Sure, we had the whole Great Depression, brought on by a stock market crash, that people could say was orchestrated.

Post WW2, things change. The government kept programs a live after the war that had been put into place for the war to help with supplies. The wealth tax seems to have vanished. The modernization of equipment should have brought the price of crops down, but they jumped (Corn was sub $1 tell like the 1960s, now it averages $4 a bushel. Soybeans were sub 4(?) tell the 70s or 80s but are now 10+ per bushel).

We went from old money, to new money (both of which are bad), but I feel the new money has done more harm over all. New money, pushed to send western manufacturing etc over seas for cheaper labor.

Politicians went from being public servants to being a career path (just read the other day about a congressman from Florida, who died while running for his 13th term).

Regulation should be rather simple:

1: does your good or service benefit the human race? Yes/No. Please explain in detail on the back of this sheet.

2: does your good or service have any harmful effects? Yes/No/Not sure. Please provide a copy of all of your testing and samples of your product for 3rd party testing.

If you answered “no” to 1, bleep off.
If you answered yes or don’t know to 2, what plan of action do you have in place to take responsibility for the consequences of your product?

Like how hard is it? This isn’t rocket science. It’s a known fact, dumping chemicals into water ways is harmful, yet companies still do it. Simple fix, take every person responsible, from top to bottom and string them up. It wouldn’t take long to see companies become more responsible.

The LOVE of money is the root of all evil (aka GREED).

 

[The_Gream]

You think the US government works for everyday Americans instead of billionaires and corporations?

Great question. This is exactly what I'm talking about when I say we need unions

We do need that. But the only way to make that happen is organizing together collectively, which is what a union is. Unions are a great way to build political power to counter the political organization and power of corporations

It does sound a lot like that, doesn't it?

I have no issues with a properly run union, but I have a bad taste in my mouth from the one my dad dealt with.
Now I know my dad can a suburban old ***, but I also know he was a hard worker.
He worked for the same company for like 30 years, they got bought out in the mid to late 90s. That site (which included a number of different buildings and jobs) voted to go closed shop.
According to my dad, who isn’t a butt kisser, the management and union representatives would treat their buddies extra special. Most areas of the company had rates. The buddies would be under rate consistently, while my dad was above rate consistently, yet durning reviews my dad would receive the same review as those not preforming as well. So he decides to slow down to rate, which upsets the management. When he would report the issue to his union representatives, they wouldn’t do anything.

So I have little faith in unions. I hear to many bad cases of unions sticking up for the wrong person.

 

[Mr_Ed]

Curious ... did the only employee ask for a tip?

No.

 

[Someyoungguy]

Bud its a struggling shopping mall and you honestly made it hard for Apple to let employees transfer because those employees will fight those managers too to get paid the same amount. It just won't work, im sorry.

Im all for paying employees fairly but afaik, Apple Store employees make well above minimum wage, and I dont think standing around and selling computers and phones take that much effort. Genius, maybe but even then they just read stuff off their iPads and ship devices off to Texas.

That’s just the thing. No one has presented any data to show that this mall is struggling or that sales are declining at this store. Apple used very vague, weaselly words like “declining environment” and said 3 stores out of ~128 non-food had closed. If you’ve ever been to this store and this mall, the impression is not that it’s about to fail.

 

[surferfb]

That’s just the thing. No one has presented any data to show that this mall is struggling or that sales are declining at this store. Apple used very vague, weaselly words like “declining environment” and said 3 stores out of ~128 non-food had closed. If you’ve ever been to this store and this mall, the impression is not that it’s about to fail.

I live in Maryland. The mall is failing. It’s also not safe. There was a carjacking there two days ago:

Armed carjacking in Towson mall parking lot creates more safety concerns

An armed carjacking in the parking lot of a Baltimore County mall prompted more safety concerns from neighbors and shoppers.

www.cbsnews.com

From the article:

Towson's mall has already seen several stores close as the area dealswith multiple incidents of violence. Towson Town Center is about 26% vacant after some businesses left the mall, according to the Towson Chamber of Commerce.

Also from the article:

Three girls were arrested in 2024 at Towson's mall for fighting and being disorderly. At the end of 2025, another teen was arrested for a stabbing at the mall.

In May 2024, a man was stabbed in the parking garage at Towson Town Center after he was allegedly attacked my a group of minors. The victim said the minors tried to rob him inside the mall and then followed him to the parking garage.

In 2022, two police officers and a mall security guard suffered minor injuries in the middle of a large brawl involving minors between 12 and 17 years old. Six minors were arrested.

I’m pro union. If this had been the Bethesda store that unionized and was being shut down I’d be right with those calling it union busting. But I’m absolutely certain that’s not what is going on here.

 

[maxoakland]

I have no issues with a properly run union, but I have a bad taste in my mouth from the one my dad dealt with.
Now I know my dad can a suburban old ***, but I also know he was a hard worker.
He worked for the same company for like 30 years, they got bought out in the mid to late 90s. That site (which included a number of different buildings and jobs) voted to go closed shop.
According to my dad, who isn’t a butt kisser, the management and union representatives would treat their buddies extra special. Most areas of the company had rates. The buddies would be under rate consistently, while my dad was above rate consistently, yet durning reviews my dad would receive the same review as those not preforming as well. So he decides to slow down to rate, which upsets the management. When he would report the issue to his union representatives, they wouldn’t do anything.

So I have little faith in unions. I hear to many bad cases of unions sticking up for the wrong person.

It’s understandable that a bad experience would color your perceptions. It just goes to show that we always have to be vigilant when it comes to systems where there are imbalances of power. Even within a union, that can become a problem. And thats basically what’s happened in America with the government and corporations right now

 

[The_Gream]

It’s understandable that a bad experience would color your perceptions. It just goes to show that we always have to be vigilant when it comes to systems where there are imbalances of power. Even within a union, that can become a problem. And thats basically what’s happened in America with the government and corporations right now

If I had a silver tongue and money, I would run for President. Though, I know I would never win.

I would make it mandatory, for every federal employee, hired, elected, appointed, doesn’t matter, they would have to publicly reconfirm their oath to uphold the constitution and/or say the pledge of allegiance at least once a month. I would probably also move back to using the 1923-1924 version or the 1924-1954 version.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pledge_of_Allegiance

I could be considered religious, but God has no place in gov, only in the hearts of the people. There is a reason the USA was established without a state religion.

 

[Black Belt]

Good grief Ayn Rand, protection of weak human beings versus powerful employers is exactly the mission of unions. With some unions, like police, these protections have gone too far. But protection against arbitrary dismissal and replacement can create a better work environment with rules like just‑cause termination standards.

Where is the arbitrary dismissal? The union made their contract and Apple is following it. The employees voted for this and they got what they voted for. All unions care about are union dues paying for the union leaders six figure salaries while the workers scrounge to pay those dues.