In late January of 2022 the news dropped that REI retail workers were seeking to unionize at a location in Manhattan. The workers in the New York City outdoor supply store were feeling the same squeeze that many ground level workers felt during the pandemic: pressured to work in high exposure environments without adequate safety precautions. 

The workforce at REI joins a union wave of other retail workforces at the ground level of corporate America: Apple, Starbucks, Chipotle, Amazon, and more. The momentum has caught up smaller local businesses as well, as we’ve seen with stores like City Feed and Pavement Coffee in Boston. These workers are exercising their right to unionize under the National Labor Relations Act, in conjunction with the NLRB.

The REI union drive would be a values test for a company that has touted a progressive image and forward thinking. The drive elicited quick support from longtime REI customers, who purchase lifetime memberships with the company in order to enjoy discounts. Based on the vocal response (here and here, etc.) to the union drive, it’s evident that the customer base consider themselves ideological stakeholders as well.

By most accounts, REI failed the values test. The company followed a familiar union busting playbook: set up a “neutral” informational website to paint unions as a threatening “third-party” that stand in the way of a happy relationship between the retail workers and their corporate bosses. 

In addition, in a widely-panned move (Jacobin and MSNBC) connected to a corporate in-house podcast, the company disclosed a strategy to pervert the language of DEI in the hopes of muddying the waters. The “Podcast with Eric and Wilma” featured CEO Eric Artz and Wilma Wallace, its chief diversity and social impact officer. Among the many gems: the CEO drops his pronouns, hat tips indigenous lands, and third-parties the union with reference to the co-op structure of REI. The first two are condescending and laughably out of place in a union-busting missive to employees; the third invites some comment.

As others have pointed out:

1. What REI is: a consumer cooperative, meaning customers buy in (via membership) and enjoy discounts

2. What REI is NOT: a worker cooperative in which workers make their voice heard, set the conditions of work through collaborative and democratic processes, and impact company policy through collective bargaining

The REI workers at the Manhattan (SOHO neighborhood) location were not impressed with the corporate response. They voted to unionize in March by a landslide, affiliating with RWDSU.

Via Mother Jones:

REI SoHo, the nearly 40,000-square-foot Manhattan store, is the first of the company’s locations to unionize. Eighty-six percent of its 116 staff, from tech specialists to shipping and retail workers, voted to form a new local of the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union—the same union that workers at Amazon’s huge Bessemer, Alabama, facility are now voting on whether to join.

It’s never too late for corporate leadership to change its tune regarding unions, especially now that the Manhattan location is unionized. Can REI connect the dots between progressive image and progressive action? A new union drive is underway at a location in Berkeley, California. Workers at the location have already reported receiving union-busting literature put on their cars. Stay tuned for further developments.

Support the REI union drive in Berkeley, California.

Say hi to REI unionizers: Green Vests and the Soho location.

Explore the Green Vests linktree.