REI In The News
KNKX: REI Board Blocks Labor-Backed Candidates From Ballot
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. “REI gamed the rules so they can keep anyone they don’t like off members’ ballots,” said…
Press Release: Nationwide Campaign to Take Back REI Co-Op Board From Big Oil and Anti…
At a press conference today outside REI Co-op’s Flagship Seattle store, REI members, including the store’s own workers, and leading environmental and labor organizations, called on REI members nationwide to return the company to its co-op values by voting to reject the REI Board’s corporate slate in the…
KUOW: ‘Green Vests’ Fight For Control
Workers also want representation on REI’s board of directors. The company currently doesn’t allow so-called “Green Vests” to serve on the board, but a bill in Olympia is seeking to change that. Ski season came early in the Pacific Northwest this year, keeping Tini Alexander busy in the gear department at…
KUOW: 'Green Vest’ Workers Fight for Union Representation on REI Board
“I'm there to represent the workers at REI, the people in green vests, and being a voice that pushes REI to stop union busting, to listen to the needs of the workers.” Unionized REI employees are determined to have a seat at the table of the beloved outdoor gear company's board of directors…
Washington State Standard: WA Bill Would Require REI Co-Op to Reserve Board Seats for…
“REI used to take workers’ experiences into account when making business decisions and every day people used to serve on the board,” said Andrew Soderquist, an REI employee in Seattle. “Now there are no meaningful avenues to share our perspectives or give feedback.”
Press Release: Under HB 1635, REI Co-Op Would Have To Allow Staff Back On The Co-Op’s Board
Tens of thousands of Washingtonians pay a membership fee to companies that claim to be democratic, member-owned co-ops. But Washington state has no laws holding co-ops accountable to their promises of democracy for all members. Some co-ops, like REI, currently ban members who are also…
Associated Press: REI Endorses Oil Industry Shill for Secretary of Interior
Records obtained by the Associated Press reveal Burgum’s administration eagerly assisted the industry even as the governor was profiting from the lease of family land to oil companies. REI signed a letter with other industries and retailers supporting Burgum.
Cascade PBS: A Labor-Backed Seattle Activist Fights for an REI Co-Op Board Seat
Ryu thinks employees need a bigger slice of the pie. This week, she introduced a bill requested by the union that would require large Washington-based co-ops to set aside at least two board seats for employees. The bill would apply to any co-op with more than 2,500 employees, but Ryu acknowledges…
Huffington Post: REI Workers Test The Retailer’s Co-Op Identity
Unionized employees want to change the storied retailer's direction. But they'll have to get through the "member-elected" board first. Cottrell, a 70-year-old employee at REI’s store in Bellingham, Washington. “They’re cherry-picking who they want.”
Nonprofit Quarterly: REI Workers Look to Shake up Co-op’s Board Amid Push for a First Contract
REI has nine elected board members, who serve staggered three-year terms. This year, the REI Union is backing the campaigns of two nonprofit leaders as candidates—Shemona Moreno, executive director of 350 Seattle, and Tefere Gebre, chief program officer at Greenpeace USA—in hopes of…
Press Release: New Bill Would Ensure Washington Co-Ops Are True to Their Democratic…
Today Washington State Representative Cindy Ryu introduced HB 1635 requiring large Washington businesses designated as consumer cooperatives, also known as co-ops, to include employees on their boards of directors. State Senator Javier Valdez is expected to introduce a companion bill later
Tacoma News Tribune: REI Sells Itself as a Co-Op. But It Mistreats Workers Like a Corporation
Many of us make careful choices about where we spend our money, whether it’s holiday gifts, everyday essentials or special supplies for the activities we love to do. Are we buying goods and services from companies that align with our values, or, are we inadvertently supporting businesses whose practices…
The Seattle Times: REI Members, Vote for Board Directors Who Reflect Co-Op Values
REI is straying far from its co-op roots and mountaineer founders’ vision. Just this week REI announced it was laying off 180 full-time and 248 part-time employees with outdoor recreation expertise they provide to customers through tours and classes. The company touts its commitment to ethical and…
Women’s Wear Daily: REI Alleged to Use Overseas Suppliers That Violate Labor and Human Rights
A new report alleges that REI uses contractors that violate labor and human rights in Southeast and East Asia and Central America. [...] Poor working conditions and violations of workers’ rights were described as “widespread” at REI’s supplier factories and forced labor allegations included workers…
University of Mass Amherst: Beneath REI’s Green Sheen: Union
Busting, Debt Bondage, and…
REI’s CEO Eric Artz assures co-op members that REI is “a different kind of company… One where people care about each other as human beings,” but what we find is that REI sources from factories in Asia and Central America characterized by serious systemic human rights abuses that warrant immediate…
Eight workers at the Soho location of REI walked off the job this week, protesting work conditions in the ski repair shop that they say are hazardous to their health. The workers at REI’s bike and ski repair shop earlier this year had raised concerns about health risks from chemical exposure, prompting an OSHA…
Modern Retail: REI Repair Shop Workers are Going on Strike Over Work Conditions
The Seattle Times: Struggling REI Cuts Hundreds of Employees, Axes Tour and Events Business
The Issaquah-based co-op will lay off 180 full-time and 248 part-time employees with the move, according to an email from CEO Eric Artz sent to employees Wednesday. Sixty-seven Washington-based workers will be affected. [...] “REI Management is putting profits over the very employees who make…
REI Co-op’s decision to shut down its Experiences business and lay off 428 employees caught many in the outdoor industry off guard. [...] REI has faced other headaches, too, as of late, including a recent walkout by ski shop workers in REI’s SoHo store in Manhattan, due to safety concerns….
Women's Wear Daily: REI’s Layoffs Sized Up by Outdoor Industry Authorities
Unionized workers at REI’s Soho store went on strike this week after the retailer doubled down on a new policy to stop providing respirators for potentially hazardous ski repair work and threatened ski shop workers with termination, the union representing the staffers alleged.
The Chief: SoHo REI Workers strike Over Safety Concerns, Threats of Termination
Texas Standard: Austin REI workers Accuse Management of Union Busting and Ignoring…
A group of workers at Austin’s downtown REI location presented a letter to store management accusing the store of using disciplinary action to intimidate workers involved with union activity – also known as union busting. Similar crackdowns have been reported at other stores with union move…
Co-op News: Worker Co-Ops Join Union Campaign Urging REI to ‘Bargain a Fair Contract’
The US Federation on Worker Cooperatives (USFWC) is backing a petition calling for Recreational Equipment Inc (REI) to ‘stop union-busting: bargain with employees for fair contracts’. Launched by REI Union, the petition accuses REI of betraying co-op values, alleging the outdoors retailer has…
FOX 13: REI Workers To Rally Against Company
REI workers who are rallying today say that the Co-Op has violated labor rights, including discrimination in factories that make REI-branded apparel and bicycles. The union also claims that REI removed respirators from ski and snow repair shops across the country.