REI Berkeley Wins Union Vote
With a 56-38 vote the workforce at the REI location in Berkeley, CA votes to form a union, affiliating with United Food and Commercial Workers Local 5, a 30,000-member labor union.
Hump Day News has been tracking the REI union push, along with union drives at Amazon, Apple, Trader Joe’s, and more during so-called #hotlaborsummer.
With the Berkeley REI location following in the union footsteps of the NYC REI location, workers at the outdoor retailer are organized on both coasts.
Will employees at stores in between, north, and south join in?
REI issued the following statement in response to the vote:
Over the past few weeks, employees at our Berkeley, California store participated in a mail-in ballot election to determine whether they would be represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 5. The initial vote tally in the Berkeley election is 56 votes for union representation and 38 votes against. As we have said throughout this process, REI believes in the right of every employee to vote for or against union representation. We fully supported the vote process in Berkeley and will continue to support our employees going forward.
Some Green Vests might object to characterization of the company as “fully” supportive throughout the process. Regardless, there will be ample opportunity for corporate leadership to stand behind its workers in the next phase: contract negotiations.
As we’ve observed with Starbucks in recent months, hostile leadership can throw a wrench in the works by dragging the process out at the bargaining table. The aim is, on this line of thinking, to kill union momentum by gaming the negotiating process with endless dithering and legal obfuscation.
Let’s get that contract done.
With a 56-38 vote, REI workers in Berkeley, CA vote to form a union with UFCW Local 5.