Overview
- Apple plans to close its Towson Town Center store on June 20, a move that union leaders say will affect about 90 employees and remove a local center for repairs and transit-dependent customers.
- The International Association of Machinists filed an Unfair Labor Practice charge with the NLRB and led protests on May 27 that included members of Congress, county officials, and civil-rights groups demanding equal treatment for Towson staff.
- Towson employees say they were told to reapply for other Apple jobs rather than receive automatic transfers that workers at two non-union closing stores in California and Connecticut were offered.
- Apple says it closed the store because of declining mall conditions and that the union contract it negotiated requires transfers only if a new store opens within 50 miles and 18 months, otherwise severance applies.
- Labor leaders say the case could set a precedent for how Apple treats organized retail workers and signal whether the company will face broader legal and political pressure over unionized stores.