REI

REI Union Workers Launch Boycott Over Dispute With Co-op

May 23, 2026 Miles Hadfield, Coop News. Resist! boycott, Memorial Day, REI, Unions

On May 15, REI Union workers launched a boycott against the co-op, which sells outdoor leisure gear, in protest against its “bad faith bargaining”. Timed to disrupt REI Co-op’s anniversary sale, which takes place through May 25, the boycott follows recent negotiations that ended on 30 April, in Chicago. The union claims that REI “failed to offer a single proposal until the final day of bargaining, and failed to send its own vice president of labor relations, or any key decision-maker, to the table”. Campaigners hit out at “outlandish, bad faith proposals” from the co-op, including a moratorium on the REI Union’s organising activity, which would prevent it from supporting workers at other REI stores hoping to unionise for the duration of the contract.

REI Workers Launch Consumer Boycott Of Chain

May 12, 2026 Mark Gruenberg, People's World. Resist! Boycotts, REI, Unions, Washington, Worker Rights and Jobs

Bellingham, Washington. — The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Workers, who represent the employees at the REI retail outdoor equipment chain, a co-op, asked REI’s 70,000 co-op members and other consumers to vote with their feet and stay away from its stores. The boycott began on May Day after the chain management failed to reach an agreement with the union by the deadline set by the RWDSU. The workers now plan to strike from May 15-25 against the chain, which likes to advertise itself as pro-worker and ecologically friendly. Those dates coincide with REI’s big anniversary sale.

REI Union Members Win A Major Victory

August 16, 2025 Marie Kelly, Workers World. Strategize! Contract Negotiations, REI, Unions, Worker Rights

Union members at REI won a major victory when REI Co-op, the outdoor recreational gear specialty store, agreed to the demand to establish a national bargaining structure for the 11 unionized REI stores. The REI bargaining committee hailed the agreement as “a tremendous step forward in negotiating a first contract.” Workers at the 11 REI stores are represented by United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Locals 5, 663, 700, 1208, 1445 and 3000 and the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) Locals 379 and 1102. First to unionize was the Soho store in New York City, followed by the store in Berkeley, California, in 2022.

REI Members Reject All Three Board Candidates In Election

May 17, 2025 Alice Toomer-Mcalpine, Co-operative News. Resist! Cooperatives, Democracy, REI, Worker Rights

Members of US outdoor retail co-op REI have voted to reject board candidates following a worker-led campaign. The election result was announced yesterday at REI’s online annual member’s meeting. The three candidates, made up of two incumbents up for re-election and one new director, had been selected by REI’s existing board, and were running unopposed, meaning members were given the choice to vote either for or against the candidates. A campaign led by the REI union had encouraged members to vote ‘no’ to the co-op’s slate of candidates, after REI refused to include two union-backed candidates on the original election ballot, despite the nominees receiving over 10,000 signatures of support.

REI Board Blocks Labor-Backed Candidates From Ballot

March 9, 2025 Nate Sanford, Cascade PBS. Educate! Democracy, REI, Unions, Worker Rights

Unionized REI employees are calling on members of the outdoor retail co-op to vote no in this year’s board of director elections after the company excluded two union-backed candidates from the ballot. The two were Tefere Gebre, chief program officer at the international environmental advocacy group Greenpeace USA, and Shemona Moreno, a Seattle climate activist who leads the nonprofit 350 Seattle. Anyone who has an active REI membership can vote in its board elections. Members can also nominate themselves to run for a board seat, but bylaw changes in the early 2000s gave the existing board final say over who gets on the ballot.

REI Workers Look To Shake Up Co-Op’s Board

February 1, 2025 Nate Wolf, Non Profit News. Strategize! Democracy, REI, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

Since March 2022, over 600 workers have voted to unionize at 11 REI stores. The campaign is growing, with workers in Greensboro, NC, voting to become the eleventh union store just last week. Workers at these stores are affiliated with either the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) or the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU). To date, management recalcitrance has stymied workers’ efforts to win a first contract, so the REI Union is trying a new tactic: Running candidates for the board of the 24-million-member outdoor equipment retailer, the nation’s largest cooperative.

REI Workers Form Union At Ohio Store

March 6, 2023 Dave Jamieson, Portside. Organize! Ohio, REI, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

Workers at an REI store near Cleveland voted 27-12 in favor of unionizing on Friday, adding more fuel to a labor organizing campaign at the national outdoor retailer. The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union said it prevailed in the vote following a tally by the National Labor Relations Board. The company has a week to file any objections to the results. The Ohio election marks the third union victory at an REI outpost over the past year, following other votes in New York City and Berkeley, California. The Cleveland store, which is in the suburb of Orange, employs around 55 workers who would be part of the union.

REI Workers At Berkeley Store Vote To Unionize In Another Win For Labor

August 26, 2022 Dave Jamieson, Huffington Post. Organize! California, REI, Unions, Victory, Worker Rights and Jobs

Berkeley, California - REI employees in Berkeley, California, have formed the outdoor retailer’s second union, extending a winning streak for organized labor at largely non-union companies. Workers at the Berkeley store voted 56 to 38 in favor of joining the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union in a mail-in election this month, according to a vote count held Thursday by the National Labor Relations Board. Employees at REI’s store in the SoHo neighborhood of New York City were the first to unionize earlier this year. “As we have said throughout this process, REI believes in the right of every employee to vote for or against union representation,” the company said in a statement following the vote count. “We fully supported the vote process in Berkeley and will continue to support our employees going forward.”

REI Workers In SoHo Schedule First Union Vote

February 26, 2022 Gwynne Hogan, Gothamist. Organize! New York City (NYC), REI, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

More than 100 retail workers at the national outdoor gear chain Recreational Equipment, Inc. will decide whether to form a union during an in-person vote on March 2, paving the way for what could become the company’s first unionized store. The workers are campaigning to join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union in order to help workers address issues related to wages, paid-time off scheduling, training and workplace safety concerns, organizers said. Union organizers announced the vote Wednesday night and records from the National Labor Relations Board confirmed the election will be held throughout the day in the breakroom of the SoHo REI store with the results expected later that evening.

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