IAM CORE Union Files Unfair Labor Practice Charge Against Apple for ‘Bargaining in Bad Faith’

The IAM Coalition of Organized Retail Employees (IAM CORE), a division of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), has filed an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against Apple.

According to a press release, IAM says the charge was filed “after a clear pattern of management engaging in regressive and surface bargaining with its unionized employees in Towson, Maryland.” The press release also says that “after more than a dozen bargaining sessions, Apple continues to use stall tactics and act in ways that are not in the spirit of reaching a collective bargaining agreement.” IAM claims that examples of Apple bargaining in bad faith include:

• Company consistently only proposing current policy as its counter offers, despite having a month or more between bargaining sessions to formulate proposals.
• A recent management rights proposal from Apple included takeaways from a previous company proposal, clearly showing regressive bargaining on the part of management.
• Apple has yet to respond to many key union proposals, including grievance procedure, union dues check off and union security.
• Sharing internal negotiations proposals with Apple employees across the country, after insisting on closed bargaining.
• Continuously showing up late to the bargaining table, pushing back return dates and times to the bargaining table, and delaying the beginning of negotiations from November 2022 to January 2023.

IAM CORE members, who in June 2022 became the first Apple retail store to organize into a union in the United States, have been negotiating with Apple management since January 2023. The IAM was ready to begin negotiations in November 2022.

IAM CORE and Apple management concluded a two-day bargaining session in Baltimore on July 12. The parties are scheduled to negotiate next on Aug. 15.