Apple pressed by Maryland lawmakers over closure of first unionized U.S. store

A group of two U.S. Senators and seven Members of Congress sent a letter to Tim Cook and John Ternus pressing Apple for answers over the planned closure of its Towson retail store. Here are the details.

A bit of context

Early last month, Apple announced it would close three US stores: Apple Towson Town Center in Towson (MD), Apple North County in Escondido (CA), and Apple Trumbull in Trumbull (CT).

The reason behind these three decisions was roughly the same: they’re located in struggling malls where other retailers have also been leaving.

While the decision to shut down the stores in California and Connecticut went largely unnoticed, the Maryland store is a different story altogether.

That’s because Apple Towson Town Center was the first Apple Store to unionize in June 2022. For this reason, the decision to shut down the store has sparked a dispute between Apple and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), particularly over whether employees should be allowed to transfer to other Apple retail locations.

In a nutshell, while Apple says the negotiated union agreement only requires transfers within 50 miles of the Towson store, with severance offered otherwise, the IAM Union says Apple is discriminating against unionized workers by denying them the same transfer opportunities given to employees at the other closing stores.

This impasse has now reached Maryland’s congressional delegation, which has sent a letter to Tim Cook and John Ternus pressing Apple for answers over the Towson store closure.

Maryland delegation steps in

Yesterday, a group of nine U.S. Senators and Members of Congress sent a letter addressed to Apple CEO Tim Cook and the company’s next CEO, current Senior Vice President for Hardware Engineering John Ternus, asking the company to detail both its decision to close the Towson store and what support it will provide to affected employees.

In addition to expressing concern over the shutdown, they seek “a clearer understanding of the rationale behind this decision,” including which relocation alternatives were “meaningfully considered.”

They also inquire:

1. What factors led to the decision to close this location despite its reported performance, and were alternatives to closure fully evaluated?
2. What analysis did Apple conduct to assess the economic and workforce impacts of closing the Towson location, particularly on the nearly 100 employees affected?
3. What specific measures does Apple plan to take to support impacted employees, including severance, job placement assistance, and the ability to transfer locations? Will Apple commit to providing displaced employees the ability to immediately transfer to another Apple store location?

Finally, while recognizing the “complex business considerations” involved in such decisions, they ask Apple to “reconsider whether there are viable paths forward” that would not only preserve the jobs directly affected by the decision, but also its broader impact on the local economy.

Following the Maryland delegation’s letter to Apple, the IAM Union published the following statement:

The IAM Union (International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers) commends 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 for standing with working people and demanding accountability following Apple’s decision to close its unionized retail store at Towson Town Center in Towson, Md., effective June 20, 2026. 

You can read the full letter below: