The workers at REI Berkeley are seeking to form a union, with a vote scheduled for Wednesday, 27 July. Per a filing with the NLRB, the REI employees have affiliated with United Food and Commercial Workers Local 5 (UFCW5). 

The union push comes on the heels of a successful effort at the REI Soho location. REI workers are participating in a union wave that has been making inroads at corporate giants like Amazon, Apple, Trader Joe’s, Starbucks, as well as smaller, local outfits like City Feed and Pavement Coffee.

In a letter to management, the employees requested that REI voluntarily recognize their union as a collective bargaining unit. No voluntary recognition is currently forthcoming. The corporate leadership at REI is attempting to walk a fine line, balancing corporate profit motives with a progressive image. 

On the one hand, REI CEO Eric Artz has discouraged unionizing at the company. An “informational” website has been set up by the company to “third-party” union activism at store locations. Anti-union literature is being distributed to employees. And Artz recently sounded off via an in-house REI podcast:

“It’s that we don’t believe, I do not believe, that introducing a union is the right thing for REI. And more specifically, I believe the presence of union representation will impact our ability to communicate and work directly with our employees and resolve concerns at the speed the world is moving.”

On the other hand, corporate leadership is wary of looking like union busters. In response to the organizing at the Berkeley location, REI released the following statement, via OBJ:

“We were notified this week by the National Labor Relations Board that the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 5 union has filed a petition for an election at our Berkeley, California store, indicating that some employees there are interested in unionization. We will fully support the petition process in Berkeley, including the right of every employee to vote for or against union representation. Our responsibility as leaders is to put employees at the center of everything we do, and we are working to co-create—and maintain—a best-in-class experience for our hourly employees.”

The “best in-class experience” currently includes instances of hate crime and violence directed at employees. Via the Daily Californian:

Marcos Santos, a UC Berkeley student and REI employee, alleged instances of racism, misogyny, homophobia and sexual assault have been “brushed” off by management. Santos said they believe an in-store human resources staffer would help alleviate issues and make reporting allegations to HR more efficient.

Through union organization, workers at the Berkeley location seek more than an ear to listen to complaints – they seek an active role in determining their own fate in the workplace and enriching the store they care about. Per the letter to management,

“We don’t want just to be heard – we want to be active stewards of our store alongside you. We want to work with you, as full parties in negotiating, to create our contract, and to build an REI that more deeply lives its stated values. We will go further together.”

On 27 July the workers at REI Berkeley will have their opportunity either to go further together as a union, or fall in line alone. Stay tuned as the story unfolds.

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