Two years have passed since workers at the Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI) location in SoHo in New York City voted to form the first union in the outdoor equipment retailer’s history. Since then, workers at nine other locations across the country have unionized. They all remain without a contract.
Workers say the goal is to hammer out a deal with the company by the end of the year for workers at the 10 unionized stores across the country.
“Nothing we’re asking for is actually that unreasonable,” said Steve Buckley, a member of the bargaining committee at the SoHo store, adding that workers are demanding better pay, guaranteed minimum hours, and predictable and stable schedules. “In fact, many of the things we’re demanding at the bargaining table are basic things REI used to do before … and we were profitable. These things are not in conflict.”
But workers say REI’s handpicked negotiating teams and repeated showings of bad-faith-bargaining stand in the way.
Workers at unionized stores say the company’s representatives at the bargaining table, attorneys from notorious union-avoidance firm Morgan Lewis, have purposely stalled negotiations and created an unproductive environment during bargaining sessions that leads to no progress. Workers say the company has also altered how it classified employees, which has led to mass firings and further muddied the waters with federal labor regulators.
A company spokesperson denied accusations made by workers and union officials of bargaining in bad faith.
“REI is committed to—and will always—negotiate in good faith with our certified stores that have chosen union representation. The collective bargaining process can be lengthy, particularly when negotiating a first contract,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “Both parties have been engaged in numerous negotiations and have reached tentative agreements on various topics. We remain steadfast in our commitment to this process and to finding a mutually beneficial agreement with our stores that have chosen union representation.”
However, the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union (RWDSU) and the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW)—the organizations representing REI workers at the 10 unionized stores—have filed close to 100 unfair labor practice claims (ULP) with federal regulators in the last two years to substantiate their claims.
Dozens of the ULPs filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) allege the company’s representatives are bargaining in bad faith.
Maurice Newman, an REI employee and bargaining committee member at a store in suburban Cleveland, said bargaining meetings with company lawyers go on for hours with no real progress.
“Nothing gets done. You show up in the morning, and they tend to show up late,” Newman said. “You talk to attorneys for a little bit, then they’ve got to go and caucus, then lunch, and then come back for a little bit … At the end of the day, nothing’s done.”
Bargaining sessions, Newman said, are also scheduled sparsely. In the 15 months since the store has had a certified union, both sides have only met nine times. A study in the Industrial Relations Journal shows that ULP filings tend to decrease the likelihood of both parties reaching an agreement on a contract by nearly 78%.
The union has filed seven ULPs for the Cleveland store alone, accusing the company of firing employees in retaliation for their union support, bargaining in bad faith, and refusing to bargain over changes to employment.
The latter was also filed with the NLRB at the national level in relation to close to 300 layoffs announced by the company last October as part of a larger restructuring. In a legal complaint filed by the UFCW in May, the union accused the company of not bargaining over the layoffs and other changes to workers’ employment. These changes include the creation of a new part-time-plus position that entails a higher commitment of working hours, as well as changes to full-time employee roles. Full-time workers have had to make all seven days out of the week available for scheduling since the restructuring, workers say.
“Even as a full-time worker, you have [no] hours guaranteed at REI, even though they demand that you be available to work seven days a week whenever they say you should work,” said Buckley.
Union leaders and company officials traded emails in October regarding these and other changes, with the unions ultimately claiming that the company abdicated its responsibility to negotiate alterations to terms of employment.
As part of the legal complaint with the NLRB, the union demanded REI reverse all of the changes it made to employment and reinstate all laid-off employees with back pay. Additionally, the UFCW demanded the company notify and bargain over any other changes to working conditions with the unions at the respective stores.
A response from federal regulators on that case is still pending.
In Cleveland, the company has also obstructed the bargaining process with the NLRB by disputing the number of employees who’d be covered under the union, said Maria DiPasquale, a spokesperson for the RWDSU. DiPasquale noted that this dispute is the subject of one of the ULPs filed by the union against REI.
REI’s most recent bargaining unit list provided to the union on May 10 shows there are 33 unionized workers at the store.
“However, REI does not consider any ‘temps’ to be part of the union,” DiPasquale said, adding that every employee hired since the union victory in 2023 has been classified as a temporary worker for at least their first three months of employment.
“The union has alleged that this misclassification is unlawful,” she said. “As such, the union contends that there are currently roughly 50 workers in the bargaining unit.”
For Newman, a union contract is an opportunity for workers to thrive, but also a lifeline for REI to show it can live up to its values and image as a conscientious company interested in bettering the communities it serves.
“There is a lot of introspection that is needed, and if the company does that, they can come out in a much better place,” he said. “The world around us is changing. We have got to change with it.”
