Digital Freedom

The reason offered was that the Towson store needs to negotiate benefits with Apple via the collective bargaining arrangement that comes with a union. To be sure, the approach isn’t unique to Apple. Excluding unionized stores from new benefits has also been a flashpoint in the labor dispute at Starbucks where about 250 cafes have voted to unionize over the past year. Like Apple, Starbucks rolled out a series of new perks at nonunion stores, including raises and student-debt coaching, while saying that it can’t legally provide them unilaterally to sites with union activity.

While Apple’s decision could dissuade employees in other cities from unionizing their stores, but it also could further upset workers, especially with more employees likely to unionize soon.