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IAM Union members joined by Congressman Kweisi Mfume (MD-07), Baltimore Metro AFL-CIO President Courtney Jenkins, Maryland State and DC AFL-CIO Federation Secretary-Treasurer Samuel Epps, and Baltimore County NAACP President Roland Patterson rally against outrageous decision from Apple to close its Maryland store, the first unionized Apple retail location in the United States
TOWSON, Md. — Chants erupted today at Patriot Plaza in Towson, Maryland, where protesters accused the Fortune 500 tech giant of discriminatory treatment toward its employees.
Apple Store employees, Members of Congress, labor leaders, civil rights leaders, and local elected officials are outraged by Apple’s decision to close its Towson store – the first unionized Apple retail location in the United States – rather than guarantee pay equity and safe working conditions for its nearly 100 area employees, who are now facing job loss.
“My oldest daughter starts college in the fall. My youngest daughter turns 3 this year. And my newborn son is sleeping at home right now while I’m trying to figure out what comes next. My coworkers are in similar positions, carrying families, mortgages, medical bills, and the quiet fear of watching a stable job disappear,” said Eric Brown, a Sales Lead at the Apple Store at Towson Town Center and a member of IAM Local 4538. “We’re not asking for charity. We’re asking Apple to do right by us and offer us the same transfer opportunities it extended to workers at its other closing stores.”
The IAM Union, which represents the Towson Apple Store workers, has filed an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), citing discriminatory treatment against unionized Apple workers at the Towson store. Unlike workers at two other closing stores, Apple will not allow its unionized Towson employees to transfer to other stores.
“Apple wants every worker watching right now to know what happens when you organize. They want to send a message. That is not a business decision. That is retaliation. Plain and simple,” said IAM International President Brian Bryant. “We are going to fight this in every arena we have. We will not stop. We will not be quiet. We will not back down, not until our members get the fair treatment, the straight answers, and the respect they have earned. The respect that every working person in this country deserves.”
The Towson Apple store is also the only Apple Store in the entire Baltimore area that can be reached by bus. Students from Towson, Goucher, Stevenson, CCBC, Loyola, John Hopkins, University of Baltimore, Morgan State University, and Coppin State University all frequent the location, along with working people without cars across the city.
The Maryland congressional delegation, led by U.S. Rep Johnny Olszewski and joined by U.S. Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks, as well as U.S. Reps. Steny Hoyer, Jamie Raskin, Glenn Ivey, Kweisi Mfume, Sarah Elfreth, and April McClain Delaney wrote a letter to Apple demanding accountability following Apple’s decision to close its unionized retail store at Towson Town Center in Towson, Md., effective June 20, 2026.
Read the Maryland congressional delegation’s letter to Apple here.
“We know what it looks like when a corporation tries to make an example out of workers who dared to ask for a seat at the table. We have seen that playbook. We have faced it down before. And we have beaten it before,” said IAM Eastern Territory General Vice President David Sullivan. “Apple is not the first powerful employer to try to break the spirit of organized workers. They will not be the last. But they will hear from us. They will hear from us today. They will hear from us at the National Labor Relations Board. And they will keep hearing from us every single day until justice is done for the workers of this store.”
On the ground, IAM Local 4538 members including Apple Store workers at the Towson Center were joined by IAM International President Brian Bryant, IAM Eastern Territory General Vice President David Sullivan, IAM District 4 Representative Bonna McCarthy, Congressman Kweisi Mfume (MD-07), Maryland State and DC AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Samuel Epps, Baltimore Metro AFL-CIO President Courtney Jenkins, and Baltimore County NAACP President Roland Patterson.
“We have been working on this for a while now, and we will not stop,” said Congressman Kweisi Mfume (MD-07). “This is a fight for workers’ rights. Collective bargaining has to be respected. Labor laws have to be respected. The right for individual men and women to speak and to organize themselves must be respected.”
