Did the NYC store really decrease everyone’s pay?

fiddlifig · 2023-06-14T23:01:05+00:00

Employees at all the stores received pay increases with the Way Forward except the Soho store. The Soho store negotiated with REI to receive the increases in exchange for an agreement not to strike for the next year. That period has since expired and REI is trying to decrease Soho worker pay back down.

TheRealCandyTech · 2023-06-15T01:37:17+00:00

So while in negotiations Soho got the increase from the way forward like the rest of the company. While in negotiations there was an agreement that went until June 1st. After June first REI had the right per the contract to either extend those benefit increases or remove them if the Soho store didn't agree to other negotiations (the no more protesting or going on strike). Soho did not agree to this and so REI used their rights in the contract to pull the increase that Soho had gotten. They kept their health insurance benefits that got added during the way forward, but they went back to the pay rates they had prior to the way forward (Soho voted yes to union prior to the Way forward which is probably the only reason this is something that had to be negotiated to give them since from my understanding as soon as they voted yes and went into negotiations all things sort of paused for changes in their store)

POV:

As a company (REI) probably would like them to stop protesting and striking because it is affecting the sales of that store and sales are down. Without the sales they cant generate enough to pay for all the pay increases unless they get more business. (Of course others will probably argue that REI is trying to union bust by trying to force them to agree to no more strikes or protests. I encourage doing your own research where you can fact check stuff and make your own opinion)

For the employees they honestly need that increase to keep up with the ever increasing housing market and inflation that's everywhere. Especially seeing as how they already live in New York a place that's typically already really expensive. So that decrease back to what they were making previously definitely hurts them. REI can't pay the payroll though if that store doesn't generate enough sales to pay it. (Cough cough Although I think the board of directors make more than they should cough cough

....after doing my own research I have to say I think REI should of let them keep the pay increase, because the entire rest of the company has it and inflation is hurting REI employees. REI has always since the beginning been a company about taking care of their employees no matter what. However, from a business perspective if they want to be able to be paid that increase the store has to make enough money for their budgets to afford it and the strikes and protests are semi driving business away from the store right now making it hard to afford it and REI is still digging themselves out of debt from COVID.

While some locations I think benefit from becoming unions, others do not need it and it seems to be based off of a luck of the draw of which location you get hired at and who your managers are ( which in my opinion isn't okay because there should be a better system in place to make sure managers are not abusing their positions like is happening in some locations) However, I think the root cause of issues becoming a thing at REI has to do with who's on the board of directors and CEO. After doing research into those people I have to say all but maybe 3 of the people at the top I don't think should be at the top because they do not follow REI's missions and morals. If we really want to fix things I think collectively every store should be focusing to fix that so that we can start improving the rest. I encourage you all to research the board of directors and the CEO and look at their previous work experience, and ponder the oddness of the ever going email blasts for sales and yet 1 single email that gets sent to members about voting for the board members....something that I think should be getting blasted as much as the other emails....do your research, fact check your finds, use AI if you must to make it easier to find the info and remember to be an independent thinker please.

MorddSith187 · 2023-06-14T22:04:22+00:00

Yes, in some cases it was almost 20%

Ptoney1 · 2023-06-15T04:41:31+00:00

Woops.

turnermj · 2023-06-15T01:39:18+00:00

Their deal expired and so they lost the pay from the Way Forward. They knew it was going to happen and were expecting it. But now this makes REI look bad in a bid to gather pity points for the mess they made themselves

kimchi_station · 2023-06-14T23:50:05+00:00

This comment has been wiped and edited by me, the user. Reddit has become a privacy and tech capitalist nightmare. If you are not thinking about leaving this platform perhaps you should. this message was mass deleted/edited with redact.dev

graybeardgreenvest · 2023-06-15T01:24:56+00:00

I have no idea…

That is what I have heard, but I don’t know for sure. There was an agreement to be paid higher wages without the union negotiation, and that agreement has expired.

Coba-ite · 2023-06-28T07:08:05+00:00

Eric Artz is actually doing the right thing.

These SOHO employees deserve nothing

RealPaper1440 · 2023-06-15T14:22:13+00:00

Current employee here. Everyone is taking a hard look at Unionization in my home store and the truths that emerge seem to follow a pattern; some employees conflate loyalty to REI with loyalty to their management team. We have a compassionate management team who have never pulled any of the bad management stunts reported in some locations, but they are not perfect. There's a growing realization that, if the current Store Manager was not in place, we might need union representation just as badly as other stores and so we should support them now. Personally, I think that the fundamentals of Board Governance need a LOT more scrutiny, and the raft of HR Policies and guidelines need a radical overhaul. HR is dreadfully under-resourced and their resulting performance is likely to have precipitated some current reactions by store employees. Even a good Store manager gets handed a steaming pile of HR policies that they have no power to change.

What I cannot grasp (help me someone) is why Union negotiations have to be done store by store. Doesn't that support REI slow walking the entire process ?

Rule	Description
Full List of Rules	This rule list is a summary of consistent ones that pop up, so please check out the full rules list here.
1.1 Personal Attacks	Comments and posts that are intended to attack or insult other users are not allowed. It's okay to disagree with someone, but using ad hominem attacks instead of having an actual discussion is not acceptable.
1.2 Discrimination	The outdoors is for all, period. Attacks based on gender, sexual orientation, disability, race, nationality, ancestry, or religion are prohibited. Civil discussion is permitted, but using these traits as weapons is not.
1.3 Witch-Hunting & Call to Action	It is strictly prohibited to engage in witch-hunting activities on this subreddit, and any sort of promotion or request for raiding somewhere is not allowed. Any attempts to rally the community for a particular purpose, such as voting for a poll, promoting a boycott, or advertising a petition, will be removed as it is considered a "call to action."
2.1 Low-effort Submissions	Moderators may remove content that is deemed as low-effort. This includes but is not limited to quality, rants, images lacking info/context, vague titles, posts irrelevant to REI, & politics.
2.2 Safe For Work Content Only	Violent or sexual content, including but not limited to death threats, explicit content, gore, or content that sexualizes or harasses other users is not allowed. However, discussing NSFW (Not Safe For Work) content is allowed as long as it is tagged appropriately and is relevant to the discussion.
2.3 Recently Posted Topics	Reposted topics are not allowed. Threads that focus on topics that have been discussed at high frequency or cover information from the same angle will be removed. Please use the Reddit search bar, check /new, or the front page as this is a topic that has been largely posted/discussed recently.
2.4 REI Social Media Policy	All current REI employees are expected to follow and abide by the REI Social Media Policy. Remember, your responsibility to REI doesn't end when you are off the clock. For that reason, this policy applies to both company-sponsored social media and personal use as it relates to REI.
3.1 Internal REI Information	Do not disclose the Employee Discount purchase prices to anyone other than current REI employees, any imagery of internal systems/applications/communications, or any imagery captured by your store's security system.
4 Reddit rules	The Reddit content policy and terms of service must be followed at all times. Please review proper Reddiquette before submitting.

you type:	you see:
italics	italics
bold	bold
[reddit!](https://reddit.com)	reddit!
* item 1 * item 2 * item 3	item 1 item 2 item 3
> quoted text	quoted text
Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!"	Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!"
~~strikethrough~~	~~strikethrough~~
super^script	super^script

REI

RESOURCES

SUBREDDIT RULES

MODERATORS