On January 21, 2022, we, the workers of the REI Union SoHo, presented to our managers all the reasons we wanted a union during our daily morning huddle. To us, a bunch of outdoor enthusiasts who love REI, we see the REI Union SoHo as a way of living up to the Co-Op’s stated core values.

That same day, we also requested voluntary recognition of our union, while courteously notifying management that we planned to file an election petition with the National Labor Relations Board to be represented by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) in matters of collective bargaining.  

REI has ignored our request to voluntarily recognize our union. Instead, they’ve deployed textbook union-busting tactics, meant to intimidate and scare workers out of voting Union Yes.

Since announcing our union, here’s just some of what we have endured:

*Workers have been pulled into one-on-one meetings with management

*Workers have been forced to attend captive audience meetings with executives brought in to convince us that a union isn’t the right fit for REI

*Management has shared misinformation about unionizing, using language that is not neutral or objective

*Management has posted an excessive amount of anti-union flyers around our pro-union flyers

*Management has put a hold on any opportunities for promotion

*Management created a Microsoft Teams channel for for staff to ask questions about the union election, but instead permitted it to be dominated by anti-union language not related to the election process

*REI President and CEO, Eric Artz, participated in a one sided, 25-minute union-busting REI podcast

Despite all of these scare tactics, we are more united than ever in our belief that a union is the best way forward for all of us.

We, the workers of REI Union SoHo, deserve a free and fair union election.

We are calling on REI to immediately halt all union-busting practices, and to remain neutral as workers vote on union representation.