We, the workers at Apple’s store in Towson, Maryland, just made history by voting in favor of union representation by the International Association of Machinists (IAM) Apple Coalition of Retail Employees (ACORE).

We made the choice to form a union not to create conflict with Apple, but to create a better experience at our store for Apple employees and customers.

When we announced our intentions of forming a union, we thought it would be best to reach out directly to our CEO in the hopes of starting the process from a place of understanding, empathy and cooperation.

We knew Apple had strong human rights policies, especially around workers’ rights to organize.

We knew both the Apple Human Rights Policy and the Apple Supplier Code of Conduct laid out a framework of neutrality by which the company and its suppliers should be conducting themselves.

Unfortunately for us, these policies were not followed. What we received in return for reaching out to our CEO was nothing short of a systematic and coordinated campaign designed to inflict substantial collective pressure on us as a workforce.  To be clear, this was nothing short of traumatic for many of us.  We are still dealing with the emotional effects of this campaign as guided by Littler Mendelson.

Today, we are reaching out to you, our Apple Board of Directors, in the hopes that you will be able to take action to make sure no other Apple employees needlessly go through what we did.

We are deeply concerned about our fellow employees mental wellbeing because we are all too aware of what awaits them if they decide to organize a union.

The right to union representation is guaranteed by the U.S. government; it is a right that Apple recognizes in its Human Rights Policy and demands its suppliers respect in their Supplier Code of Conduct. Do not punish us for exercising these rights. These anti-union campaigns have real world consequences on your employees’ health.

We are asking our fellow employees as well as our broader community to sign onto this letter in the hopes that you: Albert Gore Jr., Alex Gorsky, Arthur D. Levinson, Andrea Jung, James A. Bell, Monica Lozano, Ronald D Sugar, and Susan L. Wagner will listen.

Please. Do the right thing.