REI retail workers move to unionize

The New York Times has reported that workers at an REI store in Manhattan have filed for a union election. 115 employees from the company’s SoHo location filed to join the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union (RWDSU) this past Friday. The employees also asked the company to recognize the union.

In addition to outdoor equipment, REI also sells apparel from established companies including Nike, the North Face, Arc’teryx, and Under Armour. In total, REI has 170 stores and 15,000 employees.

REI came under fire in 2020 after retail stores reopened after the COVID-19 lockdown for reportedly not properly informing employees about COVID-19 exposure. REI is a consumer cooperative made of customers who buy lifetime memberships for 20 dollars. The company’s website says their brand values include “putting purpose before profits” and that they invest more than 70 percent of their profits back into the outdoor community.

An employee was quoted by the Times saying they wanted to unionize because of “a tangible shift in the culture at work that doesn’t seem to align with the values that brought most of us here.” The employee also said that REI declined to bring back some long-tenured employees who had been outspoken about workplace concerns after the retailer temporarily closed its stores in 2020.

While other companies, like Starbucks and Amazon, have been attempting to unionize, union membership is at an all-time low in America. According to the Department of Labor, union membership is only at 10.3 percent, the lowest figure since 1983.