REI workers at the outdoor retailer’s Manhattan store voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to form a union, creating the first union workforce at the company’s more than 160 stores nationwide.
Eighty-six percent of the store’s more than 100 workers voted to join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, according to a statement on the union’s website.
“I am proud to be here in this moment with my coworkers at REI SoHo as a part of this new wave of unionization efforts that is sweeping the nation,” Claire Chang, a member of the REI SoHo Organizing Committee, said after the vote was announced. “As members of the RWDSU, we know we will be able to harness our collective strength to advocate for a more equitable, safe, and enriching work environment.”
REI’s image as a socially progressive, worker-friendly company was put to the test in January when employees at the Manhattan store in New York City announced they were seeking to join a union.
The workers asked the National Labor Relations Board to allow a vote on whether to join the union, and the vote was scheduled for Wednesday. The vote to unionize was 88 to 14.
The union vote was held in the REI SoHo break room, and was overseen by the labor board. The RWDSU will represent workers at the store in contract negotiations, expected to begin this year. The workers in the bargaining unit include full- and part-time sales specialists, technical specialists, visual presentation specialists, shipping and receiving specialists, certified technicians, operations leads, sales leads, and shipping and receiving leads.
“As we have said throughout this process, REI firmly believes that the decision of whether or not to be represented by a union is an important one, and we respect each employee’s right to choose or refuse union representation,” REI said in a statement after the vote was announced.
Graham Gale, an employee at the SoHo store, told the New York Times in January that workers moved to unionize because of “a tangible shift in the culture at work that doesn’t seem to align with the values that brought most of us here.” Also a factor, Gale said, is “the new struggle of facing unsafe working conditions during a global pandemic.”
Workers also say they are paid low wages and have limited access to health care benefits.
REI responded in a statement that said: “We respect the rights of our employees to speak and act for what they believe — and that includes the rights of employees to choose or refuse union representation. However, we do not believe placing a union between the co-op and its employees is needed or beneficial.”
The company also created a website—our.rei.com—to address the union vote.
“Our goal has been and will continue to be to present the facts, so you can make an informed decision about union representation,” REI said. “This website has been designed as a resource for you leading up to the union vote.
REI, based in Seattle, Washington, has more than 15,000 workers in more than 160 stores in the United States.
Since the SoHo workers announced their intent to form a union, they say that management has engaged in “union-busting tactics.”
According to a post on actionnetwork.org, REI executives told workers attending required meetings that a union was not right for REI, management shared misinformation about unionizing, and workers had to meet individually with managers.
This isn’t the first time REI workers have raised concerns about the retailer’s handling of Covid.
In July 2020, workers at REI’s store in Grand Rapids, Michigan, told the Times they learned that a fellow worker tested positive for Covid, but that it was the worker, not store management, who told them.
Management said the store was closed for a day to investigate “potential” Covid exposure, the workers told the Times.
REI has long been seen as a leader in social investment. The company’s website says that “more than 70 percent of our annual profits are invested back into the outdoor community through dividends to REI members, employee profit-sharing and retirement, and investments in nonprofits dedicated to the outdoors.”
At the outset of the pandemic in spring 2020 REI closed its stores for two months and continued to pay workers.
CEO Eric Artz said he would forfeit 100% of his base salary for six months, and senior leadership would take a 20% pay cut and waive incentives for the year.
As time wore on and retail sales lagged, the company laid off 400 store workers.
During that time several online petitions asked REI to increase Covid safety precautions and provide health insurance for all workers, both issues that the New York workers raised.
Now that SoHo workers have formed a union, they’re hoping the union push will spread to other REI stores.
“We all deserve to be empowered in our labor,” Toby Finke said on the REI Union SoHo Facebook page. “We don’t want this to end at SoHo, we’re just part of a larger movement, and we hope our success encourages other REI workers—and workers everywhere—to have conversations about how [they] deserve to be treated.”
Featured photo by Maggie Slepian