REI employees in Northeast Ohio are aiming to make their retailer the third to unionize in lower than a 12 months, in accordance with the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU).
The labor group stated in an announcement Wednesday {that a} “majority” of workers on the REI retailer within the Cleveland suburb of Orange Village had signed union playing cards and submitted a petition for a union election to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The board should guarantee adequate curiosity in unionizing earlier than scheduling a vote.
Workers at REI’s New York City and Berkeley, California, places fashioned the outside retailer’s first unions final 12 months. The REI labor effort is a part of a wave of recent organizing to hit beforehand non-union firms, lots of them within the retail house, together with Amazon, Starbucks, Apple and Trader Joe’s.
REI stated in an announcement to HuffPost that the labor board had not but notified the corporate of a union petition.
“As always, the decision to be represented by a union is up to our employees—not the REI leadership team, Board of Directors or anyone else,” REI stated. “We believe in the right for every employee to vote for or against union representation and would fully support the petition process and vote in Cleveland.”
“We weathered the pandemic and kept the company afloat… and now we’re being told that there aren’t enough hours to go around.”
– REI employee Dave Hein
The firm, primarily based in Kent, Washington, and structured as a customer-owned cooperative, opposed the sooner organizing efforts, at one level releasing a much-discussed podcast arguing {that a} union may “impact our ability to communicate and work directly with our employees.”
Workers on the flagship New York retailer within the SoHo neighborhood voted overwhelmingly in favor of becoming a member of the RWDSU, 88 to 14, final March. Likewise, employees in Berkeley voted 56 to 38 in favor of becoming a member of the United Food and Commercial Workers union, which is affiliated with the RWDSU, in August. Now, employees at these shops try to cut price their first contracts with the retailer.
Spencer Platt through Getty Images
The RWDSU estimates that the Ohio retailer employs roughly 55 employees eligible for union illustration. Dave Hein, a motorbike providers and ski mechanic on the retailer, stated in an announcement by means of the union that REI employees’ experience “drives the company’s brick-and-mortar retail business.”
“We weathered the pandemic and kept the company afloat, we stretched ourselves thin helping the company achieve its highest profit margin ever, and now we’re being told that there aren’t enough hours to go around due to corporate overbuying and recession fears,” Hein stated.
Many retail employees have stated that the strains of working by means of the pandemic made them think about unionizing to enhance their jobs. The labor board has seen a significant uptick in union election petitions lately, citing the very best single-year whole for the reason that fiscal 12 months 2016. Workers at greater than 200 Starbucks shops have unionized in a 12 months.
Correction: This story initially stated the REI retailer was positioned in Cleveland. In truth, it’s within the Cleveland suburb of Orange Village.
