CORE Apple Store union negotiations hit a wall of Apple's design

Apple Towson Town Center, Maryland

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) officially certified union election for more than 100 employees in the Towson Town Center Apple Store, which is located in Maryland, in 2022. Union negotiations with Apple started in early 2023, and, since then, the two sides have not been able to come to terms.

It has been heated for quite some time, even after the certification for unionization. The Coalition of Organized Retail Employees, or CORE, along with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), filed a labor complaint against Apple in November of 2022 stating Apple had misled unionized employees regarding health and education benefits.

Now, the official CORE Twitter account has taken to the social network to decry Apple's latest efforts at the negotiation table. Specifically, the account states that Apple does not wish "to bargain in good faith" with unionized workers, despite months of negotiations up to this point.

CORE alleges Apple has violated several laws under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), including "regressive bargaining" and "Surface Bargaining." CORE alleges both of these instances related to the ongoing negotiations are violations of NLRA, and believe Apple should be held accountable.

Today @apple has taken the mask off and made it clear they do not wish to bargain in good faith. Moments ago, after months of negotiations, Apple took two egregious steps that can only be interpreted as an intentional moves to derail the progress we have made so far... 1/5

— acoreunion (@acoreunion) July 11, 2023

CORE also says Apple came back to the table with three proposals that were essentially "different ways of presenting us with Apple's current policies" as related to matters like bereavement, sick time, and unpaid leave.

As it stands, CORE has taken a step back to figure out how to counter Apple's latest proposals. In the meantime, the union appears to be waiting to see if Apple receives any repercussions for its latest negotiation tactics.

This is not the only union-related issues Apple has. The company continues to face union-busting allegations from the NLRB, which began in early 2023. That even got the attention of U.S. Congress just a few months later.

Around the same time, Apple also faced allegations of retribution related to firing five employees at one of its stores in Kansas City due to their efforts in union organizing. Apple has since denied these allegations.

Among the aforementioned work details at Towson Town Center, unionized employees at Towson Town Center are also seeking the ability to receive tips from customers, as well as pay raises.