WE ARE THE
REI UNION
We are unionizing at REI!
We know that as workers at REI, we are at the center of what makes our stores great. Our shared passion for the outdoors and spirit of inclusiveness is what keeps our members coming into our stores. Our hard work and expertise have value and deserve respect.
We’re unionizing at REI because we have not been provided with the working conditions and benefits we need to do the job we love. REI needs to be held accountable to their stated values. Too many of us are struggling to make ends meet, and we shouldn’t have to worry about things like sudden cuts to our hours.
Having a union contract gives you and your coworkers a voice in the policies that affect your daily work lives and the ability to secure the benefits you deserve. That’s why we’re coming together at REI to advocate for guaranteed minimum hours, pay that reflects our value and seniority, improved safety standards, and real job protections - all guaranteed in writing.
We voted to unionize at our stores to help build a better REI for everyone! We believe that the REAL way forward is with a union and that no matter where you work, you and your coworkers should have a say in how your store is run. We all deserve better. We all deserve a union.
Looking for ways to support our campaign?
A Growing Union Campaign Has Put REI's Progressive Image On Trial
March 16th 2024 — HUFFPOST: REI workers from stores around the country showed up uninvited at their corporate office in Issaquah, Washington, last Friday. The signs they were carrying made it clear to the white-collar employees looking down from the windows above that they weren’t there to tour the campus.
Plenty of REI’s devoted customers ― “members,” in company parlance, since REI is structured as a cooperative ― would have been surprised to see disaffected employees protesting such a beloved retailer. But a growing union campaign that has so far organized nine stores and counting is testing the progressive reputation that REI built through its environmental and conservation advocacy over the years.
Workers who are trying to improve their jobs through a union contract say the cooperative is failing to live up to its values and damaging its reputation in the process.
REI Workers File for Union Election in Santa Cruz, CA
March 14th 2024 — SANTA CRUZ, CA: - Today, REI workers at the Santa Cruz location filed for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board, registering their intent to join United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) Local 5. The location would be the 2nd REI store in the Bay Area and the 10th REI store nationwide to unionize for fair pay, sustainable schedule practices, and better working conditions.
Truitt Archibald (he/him), REI Sales Specialist at the Santa Cruz store, said the following: "Today. I'm proud to stand with my coworkers and take this first step towards a better REI for workers, consumers, and the larger outdoor community. As green vest, it's our hard work and expertise that make REI the brand that it is. We deserve the compensation respect, and safer working conditions that only a union contract can guarantee. I feel honored to join this growing movement."
REI Workers to March to Headquarters
March 7th, 2024 — ISSAQUAH, WA - REI employees from the company’s nine unionized stores around the country, including in Boston, plan to hike from a park in Issaquah, Wash., to REI headquarters Thursday afternoon to demand that executives come to the table and bargain in good faith.
Over the past two weeks, union members have held events in the nine communities where they’re organized to unveil a national platform demanding job security, guaranteed minimum hours, a consistent sick policy, and minimum staffing levels. Bargaining for a first contract has been dragging on for as long as two years at the Soho location in New York, the first store to organize. When REI changed its legal representation a year into negotiations, the unions said, the company rolled back an agreement to give workers there the same pay increases offered to non-union stores the day after the union election.
In November, in the first coordinated effort among all the REI union employees, who are represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union and the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, the workers filed 80 unfair labor practice charges against the company for bargaining in bad faith and engaging in anti-union behavior.
Why We're Unionizing At REI
A union is a group of coworkers who come together to make work better.
This means WE are the union. We determine what our priorities are and set our goals for negotiations.
UFCW and RWDSU’s role is to to help us build our union, whether that’s helping us organize our stores, supplying legal aid, assisting in contract negotiations, or providing representatives to protect the rights and benefits we negotiate in our union contracts.
CAN
Bargain over all your working conditions, not just those REI wants to change.
Get representation, including in contract and policy negotiations and disciplinary meetings.
Have a say in all company policies that affect working conditions.
Have real job security and protection from unjust termination.
When you have a union, you…
CANNOT
Implement a contract that has not received a majority vote from you and your coworkers.
Be required to have union representation in your conversations with management.
Go on strike unless a vast majority of your coworkers vote yes to do so.
Be terminated without sufficient cause.
When you have a union, you…