Talks between Apple and the labor union over the Apple Store in Oklahoma City have resulted in a tentative agreement that includes new benefits and protections for employees. According to a statement, the Apple Store at Penn Square Mall in Oklahoma City announced that it has reached a “tentative labor agreement” with Apple and the Communications Workers of America (CWA).
While terms are still being negotiated between the two sides, the benefits for store employees are set to be substantial. Under the three-year contract agreed to between CWA and Apple, employees’ wages will increase by up to 11.5%. An Apple spokesperson said in an email that if the agreement is approved, employees would receive a 4% raise in their first year of employment and a 3% raise each in their second and third years “based on employee performance.”
The agreement also guarantees employee benefits like paid time off and health insurance, gives employees a say in their work schedules, and establishes a “safer and more democratic workplace” through a grievance process run by a safety, health and labor relations oversight committee. An Apple spokesperson also said the work schedule options were “available to all other U.S. stores in 2022.”
The Oklahoma City Apple Store has been working on unionizing since 2022, making it the second Apple Store in the U.S. to unionize. Employees unanimously passed a strike authorization vote in August and began picketing in front of the store ahead of a bargaining session in early September. Workers are scheduled to vote to ratify the tentative agreement on Sept. 22.
CWA District 6 Vice President Derrick Osobase called the agreement “a historic day for our members as we secure a contract with one of the most lucrative companies in the world.”
The Apple store at Towson Town Center in Towson, Maryland, was the first to unionize, with members authorizing unionization with the International Union of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) in 2022. A store at Cumberland Mall in Atlanta, Georgia attempted to unionize with the CWA in 2022, but workers called it off, citing Apple’s “repeated violations of the National Labor Relations Act.”
