Organizers at Apple’s Towson City Heart retailer in Maryland declare that the corporate isn’t telling the entire fact in terms of withholding advantages from employees on the location. As the corporate’s first retail location to unionize within the US pushes to barter a contract, employees say it’s making it troublesome for them to discount for his or her advantages.

In a letter addressed to Tim Cook dinner, the negotiating committee says they’re disillusioned to be taught the corporate gained’t offer employees on the location some new well being and schooling advantages which might be rolling out to different retail staff. The union additionally says that Apple has been spreading “misinformation” by saying employees must discount for these advantages to be included of their contract.

“There may be essential context lacking on this communication across the strategy of change inside a unionized retailer and the truth that we are able to, and we’ll embody these (and any new advantages) in our collective bargaining contract proposal,” says the letter, which you’ll be able to learn in full beneath. Nevertheless, the union additionally claims that Apple has made it troublesome to discount for these advantages by not sharing “any particulars” about them.

Apple didn’t reply to The Verge’s a number of requests for touch upon the union’s accusations.

The union, generally known as IAM CORE (CORE stands for Coalition of Organized Retail Staff, and the group is partnered with the Worldwide Affiliation of Machinists and Aerospace Staff), gained its union election by an virtually two to at least one margin in June. Since then, employees at different places say the corporate has continued to oppose unionization efforts, with the Communications Staff of America submitting complaints about Apple’s habits in New York and Oklahoma.

Notably, the stories about Apple withholding advantages got here out days earlier than the Oklahoma retailer was scheduled to carry its union election, which IAM CORE’s letter says was a “calculated” transfer. If it was, it didn’t work: employees at Penn Sq. retailer in Oklahoma Metropolis voted to unionize in a 56-32 vote.

Nonetheless, there are nonetheless ongoing union drives at Apple shops in New York and Atlanta, the place the specter of withheld advantages may sway votes and even stall the method of holding an election totally. The union concerned with the marketing campaign in Atlanta canceled the vote in Might, saying Apple had made it not possible to carry a good election.

Earlier this month, Bloomberg broke the information about Apple’s push to withhold advantages at Towson and offered some particulars about precisely what employees could be lacking out on; the record included a free Coursera subscription, pay as you go tuition at some faculties (versus the reimbursement mannequin Apple often makes use of), and new healthcare plan choices. The publication cited Harvard Legislation College professor Benjamin Sachs, who stated that there was nothing stopping the corporate from providing these advantages to unionized staff.

Wilma Liebman, a chairperson for the Nationwide Labor Relations Board, advised Bloomberg that the corporate’s transfer to dam advantages may very well be a violation of labor legislation, saying it was “arduous to see how they might provide you with a professional purpose for the timing apart from to affect the end result of the election.” In accordance with the NLRB’s website, employers additionally aren’t allowed to “refuse to furnish info the union requests that’s related to the bargaining course of.”

As for the employees in Maryland, they hope the letter will spark a dialog with leaders on the firm and retailer. IAM’s president, Robert Martinez Jr., promised in a press launch that he would “sit down with CEO Cook dinner anytime” to help the union’s members at Towson.