Towson Apple Store employees accuse company of union busting amid impending closure

Bria Overs
4/27/2026 4:57 p.m. EDT

Unionized workers at Towson Town Center’s Apple Store accused the technology company of union busting at a Monday press conference. The accusation follows a recent announcement that the store will close in June.

Representatives for the union, which is part of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and represents the Coalition of Organized Retail Employees, said the closure will affect around 90 workers. However, a notice filed with the state April 23 indicated an impact on 78 workers.

The decision to close the store “should raise questions about union busting and unequal treatment of their employees,” said Brian Bryant, president of the IAMAW. “While workers at non-union stores were offered transfers, Towson workers are being told to reapply like strangers to the company that they have helped build.”

The union filed a grievance with the National Labor Relations Board over transfer rights and filed an unfair labor practice charge Monday morning, said Bill Haller, associate general counsel for the machinists union.

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Reuters Legal
‪@legal.reuters.com‬

Apple is shuttering a retail store in Maryland that was the ​company's first to unionize, and preventing workers there from transferring to other locations in retaliation, a union ‌alleged in a complaint filed reut.rs/422S1Yv


9:20 PM · Apr 27, 2026

Apple won't let unionized workers transfer out of closing store, union claims

By Daniel Wiessner
April 27, 2026 4:13 PM EDT Updated 8 hours ago

Summary
• Apple is closing Maryland store that was first to unionize
• Union workers must reapply for their jobs, union claims
• Latest in series of complaints filed with U.S. labor board

April 27 (Reuters) - Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab is shuttering a retail store in Maryland that was the ​company's first to unionize, and preventing workers there from transferring to other locations in retaliation, a union ‌alleged in a complaint filed on Monday.

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers says in the complaint, opens new tab filed with the National Labor Relations Board that Apple is discriminating against employees at the Towson, Maryland, store because of their union membership.

The union, known as IAM or the Machinists, says ​Apple is also closing two non-union U.S. stores and allowing those workers to transfer. But employees in Towson have been told ​they must reapply for jobs and compete with external candidates, the union said.

"Apple is denying union-represented ⁠workers the same opportunities it is giving to others — and doing so because these workers chose to organize," IAM's president, ​Brian Bryant, said in a statement.

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