Know Before You Shop at REI.
REI isn’t the Co-op they say they are.
After the largest Co-op member uprising in REI’s history, Mary Beth Laughton, REI’s new CEO, “promised to return the Co-op to its roots.”
She lied.
In the year since Mary Beth made that promise, REI has refused to reach a contract with union workers, announced drastic cut workers’ pay and benefits, and systematically destroyed democracy at the Co-op.
Here’s how:
Sabotaging negotiations with its union workers
Last July, REI agreed to bargain contracts with the goal of reaching agreement in 6 months. In that time, we came within inches of reaching a deal.
In the end, the deal fell apart because the Co-op refused to offer REI Union workers wages on the same level as their co-workers at non-union stores.
It wasn’t about money. They abandoned that progress because REI continues to be a fundamentally anti-union company. They wanted non-union workers to believe that things are worse with a union.
Illegally implementing deep cuts to union workers’ benefits and wages
REI has falsely declared bargaining impasse to walk away from negotiations and impose benefit and wage cuts on workers at union stores. We’re facing deep cuts to starting wages, retirement, sick pay, vacation, leaves, and more.
We have filed for arbitration to prevent REI from illegally implementing its cuts.
Hiring Trump’s favorite union-busting law firm
For more than two years, REI has paid obscene amounts of money to Morgan Lewis, one of the most notorious anti-worker law firms in the country. Donald Trump’s nominee for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), Crystal Carey, spent the last seven years at Morgan Lewis.
REI’s partnership with Morgan Lewis has emboldened them to feel above the law. In bargaining, REI has insisted they’re struggling financially and asked union workers to take massive cuts, yet REI continues to pay over a thousand dollars an hour to anti-union lawyers.
Promising to “accelerate AI” as one of its 6 priorities for 2026
Despite REI’s commitment to net zero emissions, this year REI announced “accelerating AI” as one of its 6 priorities for 2026.
AI is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions, and the overall environmental consequences are still being understood. In a recent panel, CEO Mary Beth Laughton shared that AI will “touch every aspect of our retail journey and our retail business.”
Destroying Co-op democracy
After a record number of Co-op members voted to reject REI’s proposed board candidates, REI promised to bring democracy and transparency back to the Co-op.
Instead, they have only made the Co-op more anti-democratic. They changed the bylaws in August to allow the board to appoint new directors to a full term without a member vote, changed its board elections to open voting the day after Christmas, and stopped publicizing executive compensation information.
Failing to address extensively documented labor rights violations in their supply chain
In December 2024, the UMass Amherst Labor Center published a report about widespread labor rights violations across REI’s international supply chain.
The report spotlighted instances of debt bondage, subpoverty wages, and discrimination against pregnant women at factories that produce REI Co-op branded apparel.
A year later, REI has failed to acknowledge or address these issues. When REI learned of forced labor and debt bondage in a factory in Taiwan that produced its bicycles, rather than pay workers restitution, REI abandoned the factory, a process known as “cutting and running.”
Making it harder for workers to get healthcare
REI eliminated its barebones healthcare option for all part time workers beginning in October 2025.
Employees must now work an average of 23 hours/week rather than the current 20 hours/week to maintain or qualify for full healthcare benefits. Those changes, coupled with massive hour cuts, will leave hundreds of REI workers uninsured.
Staying silent on an alarming report detailing widespread discrimination against workers of color
The National Employment Law Project (NELP) released a report based on a survey of hundreds of union workers in 2025 that found that:
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47% of REI workers surveyed report witnessing or experiencing some type of racial discrimination at work
64% of surveyed workers of color report working 20 hours or less in a typical week compared to only 38% of surveyed white workers
52% of surveyed workers of color would prefer to work in a different department at REI compared to 31% white workers
In Mary Beth Laughton’s first year on the job, she has chosen to break her promises and punish workers.
We’re running out of time to save REI from becoming the Walmart of the outdoors.
Stay tuned to this page for updates in the coming weeks as we announce our plan to fight back.