Employees of REI鈥檚 Berkeley, California, store are seeking to unionize, just four months after the company鈥檚 Manhattan, New York, location to do the same in March.
A seeking to hold a vote to unionize was filed June 21 with the National Labor Relations Board by United Food & Commercial Workers Union Local 5 in Hayward, California, on behalf of an organizing committee of REI Berkeley employees. The organizing committee days earlier sent a letter to REI management requesting that REI voluntarily recognize the committee鈥檚 effort to seek union representation. That letter, signed by 12 employees, stated that the unionizing effort has the backing of a 鈥渟trong majority鈥 of Berkeley employees.聽
鈥淲e want to be a part of developing the agreements that impact every aspect of our working lives,鈥 the letter stated. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 just want to be heard鈥攚e want to be active stewards of our store alongside you.鈥 The letter suggested that a successful unionization would be in keeping with .
The petition is scheduled to be reviewed by the NLRB in July. If approved, REI Berkeley employees鈥攁bout 120 of them鈥攃ould vote on whether or not to unionize. If the vote is successful, Berkeley would be the second REI store to unionize, following the company鈥檚 Manhattan store, which passed a vote 88-14 in March in favor of unionization.
Employees contacted by OBJ at the Berkeley REI store declined to comment and referred questions to REI.
REI responded to OBJ鈥檚 request for comment in an email, stating, 鈥淲e were notified this week by the National Labor Relations Board that the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 5 union has filed a petition for an election at our Berkeley, California store, indicating that some employees there are interested in unionization. We will fully support the petition process in Berkeley, including the right of every employee to vote for or against union representation. Our responsibility as leaders is to put employees at the center of everything we do, and we are working to co-create鈥攁nd maintain鈥攁 best-in-class experience for our hourly employees.鈥
REI has a explaining what a union can and cannot do, and unions have been discussed in , the company鈥檚 moderated customer forum, previously. The Manhattan unionization was also discussed in a published interview with on Our.REI.com. 鈥淚 want to be very clear about one thing,鈥 Artz said in that interview. 鈥淲e fully support the rights of our employees to speak and act for what they believe and that includes the right of our team in SoHo to explore, pursue and ultimately vote on the question of unionization. It’s their decision to make and we’re going to respect their right in this process鈥y father was a teacher in a teachers鈥 union and led the union when I was a teenager and I have experienced unions and other businesses and sectors that I have served. So when people ask why don’t we support unions, my answer is simple. We do not oppose unions. It’s that we don’t believe, I do not believe, that introducing a union is the right thing for REI. And that is the core of why we don’t think that introducing a union is the right thing for our employees.鈥
The Berkeley location opened in 1975鈥攖he first REI store to open outside of Washington state.