Cleveland Labor Groups, Politicians Join REI Worker Push Towards Bargaining Contract

A number of local elected officials joined workers at REI’s Beachwood location to put pressure on corporate to host a union election this year. Credit: REI Union

More pressure has been placed on outdoor goods store REI to secure a union contract with its employees in Beachwood, a coalition of supporters announced on Monday.

Ten Ohio politicians have signed a demand letter, one drafted by State Sen. Nickie Antonio, urging the Seattle-based company to allow its 37 workers at its store in Pinecrest to write a new bargaining contract by the end of 2024.

Employees voted to form a union last March and were met with general radio silence. REI has agreed to negotiate with unions in just 10 of its 187 locations nationwide.

“We believe that it’s very important that they bargain in good faith,” Sen. Antonio told Signal Cleveland this weekend. “The employees did what they needed to do to create the bargaining unit. They need to be respected.”

In past interviews and press releases, some 50 employees have stated REI’s eco-friendly, kumbaya mantra it paints itself with publicly doesn’t match its approach to worker treatment. Scarce hours and unfair wages are the top reasons employees have sought help from the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, wherein other locations have taken refuge.

Despite claims of union busting, REIs in San Francisco and Manhattan successfully unionized in 2023. Earlier this year, a ninth store, in Castleton, Indiana, joined the growing rank. And on April 19, the REI in Santa Cruz, Cali., voted 33 to 12 to form a union.

In nearly all of the aforementioned cases, the win of reaching unionization had come after lengthy delays and what backers perceived as purposefully shifty behavior from REI corporate attorneys. In New York’s store’s case, the win took nearly two years.

They “fail to take contract negotiations seriously,” Jennifer Adamson, a retail worker at REI Cleveland, wrote in a statement. “The lawyers often arrive late and leave early. REI bargaining team members work hard to draft proposals and the lawyers show up with nothing—no counter proposals and nothing new to discuss.”

In response, the Seattle-based company claimed that those long responses were still a part of meetings of good intention, and denied any claims of union busting or shunning contract writing. Even though a representative from RWDSU dubbed REI’s legal reps, Morgan Lewis, LLP, a “notoriously anti-union” law firm.

“REI is committed to negotiating in good faith with our stores that have chosen union representation,” REI said in an emailed statement. “The collective bargaining process—especially when negotiating a first contract—can be lengthy.”

Since that store in New York formally unionized, over 80 unfair labor practice charges have been brought against REI corporate, though none in Cleveland have been resolved.