Apple has reached its first-ever union contract with store employees in Maryland

This is a single retail location in Maryland. There's probably a reason they let them unionize without a lot of fighting, and I'm guessing it's because they will shut the store down if the union becomes a problem.

I know this site is pretty pro-union, but if I were them I would not have wanted to unionize at all. Apple has decent salaries for what it is, and it's probably cheaper to close the store than hire a McKinsey consultant to renegotiate union contracts.

There is a recurring pattern where companies fight any kind of worker representation and unionization as hard as they can, paint vivid doomsday scenarios why it's actually bad for workers - and create the impression that it is futile because the company will never "play along" and just sabotage forever or even close locations etc. And when the organizing succeeds, the company often actually accepts it and lives with it, trying to make the best out of it (rather than keeping on fighting a losing war) and it turns out to not be so horrible after all.

If you are ever involved in organizing - expect this pattern.

> The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers’ Coalition of Organized Retail Employees, which represents the employees ...

I've never understood how employees choose unions when they form new arrangements like this. Does someone more familiar with the process have any insight into why the names of the unions that get selected in these votes never seem to bear any relationship to the work being unionized?

The fact that companies tell you that you don't need a union and they'll spend millions to union-bust or to avoid union certification should tell you everything you need to know: vote "yes" to the union if it comes up in your workplace and join.

The company is not your friend.

Just compare earnings by workers at the Big 3 who are represented by the UAW and Tesla workers who are non-unionized [1].

[1]: https://www.businessinsider.com/ford-gm-stellantis-pay-raise...

Why is Apple presented as the protagonist in this headline? It's obvious that they fought this teeth and nails. No, store employees managed to make a behemoth bow and accept their demands.

The Bay Area 2073: one salary-maxed unionized unskilled State worker monitoring the Ai power led.

Used to shop here all the time when I lived in Baltimore, a friend that works as a Genius there had been speaking about them trying to organize as early as 2017 - when HE first started. Not a surprise - welcome news.

The original purpose and intent of unions was to prevent workers from becoming literal wholesale slaughter in the interest of profits: machines that could remove limbs, train couplers that required a user to stick their fingers in it as they were coming together, mining conditions where collapse was not prevented, etc.

I certainly hope Apple retail employees are facing no conditions that threaten their health or safety, and my suspicion is they are not.

The "pool" of humans overall's wealth, health, safety, and happiness increases in general when people strive for more through education and training. I don't see retail jobs as a permanent resting place for anyone. They are useful learning tools however for learning how to interact with coworkers, customers, and develop other skills. The usage of Union law to abate this is bad for society as a whole.

Good for them. It takes a lot courage and organization to stand up against a giant like Apple, especially when they could shut down the entire store.

It's unclear that they will be better off in terms of their take-home pay net of union dues.