REI Faces Retaliation Charges, Plans New Resale Store

Alexandra Harrell
·7 min read

REI is accused of retaliating against workers who decided to join a union.

On Wednesday, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) announced it plans to file unfair labor practice charges (ULPs) against the Seattle-based outdoor retailer in both its Cleveland and SoHo, Manhattan, unionized stores. The charges claim REI undermined and suppressed the rights of employees to bargain for a fair contract, demonstrating a “flagrant disregard” for workers’ rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).

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“We believe it is clear that REI’s behavior is in direct violation of the NLRA and we will fight to ensure they’re held accountable for these and their numerous other abuses of this fundamental law,” Stuart Appelbaum, president of the RWDSU, said. “A company cannot hire the most notoriously anti-union law firm, fail to comply with basic federal labor law, and then turn around and call themselves progressive and preach progressive values. REI must be held accountable by the labor board, and they must bargain in good faith.”

The ULP charges include a failure to provide standard information to prepare for bargaining at the Cleveland store, as the RWDSU sent this information request to REI’s then-counsel on May 8 to prepare for contract negotiations at the Ohio store. To-dater, REI has only sent a store roster and no other information, which RWDSU alleges violates REI’s legal bargaining obligation.

“In addition to that ULP around the information request . . . we also have ULPs out there regarding a lock out which occurred in response to a similar sort of stonewalling from the company around refusing to come to the table and negotiate a stipulated agreement before our election, so this is unfortunately starting to form a pattern of behavior,” Dave Hein, a bike shop employee of REI Cleveland, said during a media briefing. “We also have a ULP on file for retaliation against union-involved workers, seeing some hours get cut and some surveillance from management in store during our election process. It seems unfortunately like the company is starting to double down on the more hard-nosed tactics.”

Another charge accuses REI of unilaterally cutting some wage rates and retaliating at the Manhattan store where RWDSU and REI had agreed to provide wage rates and benefits under “The Way Forward” plan the retailer introduced last year to SoHo workers after those employees staged a walk-out. After the agreement expired on June 1, REI reduced those employees’ wages, according to the claims. Before that date, however, the SoHo workers engaged in “protected, concerted activity” to protest REI’s non-payment of Summit Pay—the company’s annual bonus program —among other things. The RWDSU alleges that it was REI’s plan to reduce workers’ pay under the agreement in retaliation for workers engaging in their protected activity.

“We have a whole bunch of things that are included in our significant board charge but something I really want to highlight is the retaliatory effect; a super majority of our coworkers came together to demand a benefit that was offered to the rest of the company except for SoHo and they claim that they’re not going to do it because we’re union and we came together and asked them to. In retaliation for that, they’ve decided to slash our pay because me and my coworkers stood together to say hey—we did politely, we weren’t trying to cause an issue—but we think we should be treated equally, we’re union members, we’re not second-class citizens inside of our own company and it seems that REI is committed to treating us that way,” Steve Buckley, a retail sales specialist at the REI SoHo store who serves on the elected bargaining committee, said during the media briefing.

“And it’s really frustrating and unfortunate because it doesn’t need to be this way, but REI has decided to take the most aggressive action they can against the early stores that have organized—here in SoHo, in Berkeley [California], in Cleveland now—to kind of prove to other workers that they shouldn’t organize . . . We want a seat at the table and actual decision-making power,” Buckley continued. “We don’t want to continue with harassment and bullying and retaliation from our co-op.”

The last charge claims REI discontinued in-store order fulfillment at the SoHo store in January, which violates the status quo because the company didn’t give the union advance notice and an opportunity to bargain.

By diverting bargaining unit work, and area of “paramount importance,” the union alleges that this reduced workers’ hours. Even if the law allows REI to do this without notifying the union, the retailer failed to engage in bargaining over the effects of this change, according to the charge.

“In our location, we used to have a whole fleet of employees who’d be picking items through the store for people who ordered online and shipping them out. In January of this year, REI ‘turned off’ our order fulfillment and that has reduced the amount of hours that our employees have at our store and it’s causing a big issue and [is] a clear violation of status quo,” Justin Ford of the SoHo store said.

“It doesn’t feel like an accident that they turned off our fulfillment function in the aftermath of a walk-out that was around fulfillment workers being targeted; this feels like a purposeful and intentional attack against our livelihood,” Buckley said. “It feels like they are digging in.”

These charges bring the total number of ULP charge-based investigations by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) regional officers up to 26. They come just two weeks after REI notified the union through its new legal counsel, Morgan Lewis, that many employees of the SoHo store would be receiving pay cuts amid a shakeup of the company’s legal representation at the bargaining table.

Graham Gale of REI SoHo said workers are fighting to “hold REI” to its “commitment to being an antiracist and inclusive company.”

“It’s frustrating, especially working at a store with a lot of queer workers to get our pay cut on the first day of Pride month, and so what we’re trying to do with these ULPs is just making sure that REI adheres to the process it’s legally supposed to, and that it doesn’t participate in retaliatory union busting,” Gale said. “So we are hopeful that the board will recognize these charges. We’re always striving for accountability from our employer and hopeful that it maintains the values that it proclaims that it has.”

The labor strife comes as REI continues to invest in the circularity.

REI Co-op announced plans to open a 16,000-plus square-foot Re/Supply store selling used gear in Clackamas, Oregon, nearby an existing full-price store. It will be the second such store for REI, joining a Manhattan Beach location in California that opened in 2020.

“As a member-owned co-op, we have a responsibility to preserve the long-term health of the planet,” Bob Cagle, REI regional director, said in a statement. “Our Re/Supply offering reimagines the lifecycle of outdoor products and helps keep gear where it belongs—out on trails, waterways and other natural places. Opening a Re/Supply store in the community builds on the popularity of our used program that is enjoyed by many Oregonians.”

The resale store, expected to open in August, will sell high-quality, used outdoor gear and apparel. The selection at the upcoming Re/Supply location will change frequently and include lightly used products that customers give back through trade-in programs or product returns.

Sourcing Journal reached out to store managers at the SoHo and Cleveland stores and at REI headquarters for comment.

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