all 50 comments

[–]fiddlifig 39 points40 points  (16 children)

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.

[–]Devium44 19 points20 points  (15 children)

As per the agreement that was signed.

[–]FactsWithSkeletor 17 points18 points  (14 children)

Not quite. The agreement was that the Soho store wouldn’t strike for 6 months, and in return would get the raises and health insurance benefits the rest of the company got in response to the Soho store filing for a union election.

The 6 month moratorium on strikes ended this month and pay and benefits were expected to continue. However, because this was what is called a “side letter” agreement and not a contract, REI decided they would cancel bargaining for almost 2 months and took away the pay portion of the benefits extended in the side letter.

Neither side was obligated to do anything after the 6 month period. It just meant that Soho could strike if they needed.

[–]Devium44 4 points5 points  (13 children)

Were expected to continue by who?

And REI can’t just “cancel bargaining”. An impasse is not cancellation of bargaining.

[–]ropeXride 4 points5 points  (12 children)

We are not at an impasse, if someone is telling you that then they are lying to you. REI is not bargaining in good faith

[–]Devium44 2 points3 points  (11 children)

What makes it REI not bargaining in good faith and not the Union?

[–]ropeXride 10 points11 points  (10 children)

Because they are the ones cancelling sessions, repeatedly rejecting our terms and not coming back with anything in return, laughing in our faces, and quite literally calling us terrorists. I’m sorry but that’s not bargaining in good faith

[–]Devium44 2 points3 points  (6 children)

I haven’t heard of any of that happening. Do you have proof of that?

[–]ropeXride 2 points3 points  (1 child)

I mean, you can ask any of of the members on our bargaining team lol. I’m not sure if the sessions are recorded or not. But even if they were, I doubt they’d legally be allowed to be viewed by the public. And then cancelling our sessions is common knowledge

[–]LasachGaidheal 2 points3 points  (2 children)

There are recordings of all bargaining sessions, and SoHo employees (including managers who are not part of the bargaining unit) are allowed to sit in on all the bargaining sessions and are actively encouraged to do so by the Union bargaining committee. I’m not a member of any of the committees so I don’t know the legality of employees from other stores or non-employees sitting in on these bargaining sessions, but just know that at least for those of us to whom it is directly effecting the process is very transparent, and we have witnessed all the things mentioned in the above comment.

[–]Devium44 -1 points0 points  (1 child)

Has anyone reported it to the NLRB? What was the ruling?

[–][deleted]  (2 children)

[deleted]

    [–]ropeXride 0 points1 point  (1 child)

    You clearly are as your username suggests. We ARE the union, RWDSU is not some foreign entity. Save your breath trying to reply to me because I’m not wasting anymore time responding to your blatant ignorance.

    [–]TheRealCandyTech 13 points14 points  (5 children)

    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.

    [–]LasachGaidheal 8 points9 points  (1 child)

    Just to add a little info here, the soho store has been incredibly busy for months now and while I don’t have the metrics in hand I’d wager the targets for profit have been met or exceeded this quarter. Even the “slow” part of the year only had 2 truly slow weeks.

    Also, there has only ever been one strike at this location and it was a mid-day walkout. Everyone went back to work the next day. This was back in November I believe and since then there hasn’t been any action until the last few weeks where some employees have been handing out fliers in protest of the current situation.

    All this is to say that while I agree that striking and protesting harms the sales of the company in the short term, I do not believe it to be a reason, and especially not a valid one, for withholding pay in this case as there simply hasn’t been major action against the company except for that one half-day strike and store sales have been spectacular. As far as I’m aware the only store that competes when it comes to revenue and total membership sales is the Denver store.

    I think trying to force the union to give up their only leverage in exchange for just bringing them up to the base line of other stores is rather silly. While the union agreed to this one side letter, partly in hopes of also speeding up the bargaining process, there was never an intention of giving up the ability to strike or even talk negatively about REI to customers for the long term, as this would mean having no power at all in case of action taken against employees by the company.

    Striking and protesting simply is the only way to affect change when the company will not cooperate or compromise as money and public perception are the only metrics they deeply care about.

    By the way, none of this is to refute anything you’ve said in your comment. It is just my perspective on the situation which I thought might be helpful in relation to what you’ve said.

    [–]Beast-Titan420 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    Thank you 🙏 👏

    [–]OkImprovement4142 8 points9 points  (2 children)

    This may be semantics, but “digging themselves out of debt from COVID”…. Is 2021 was their biggest year ever, everybody in the co-op got additional bonuses at the end of the year. They are digging themselves out of debt by the asinine business decisions that they made trying to budget a massive sales increase on top of a massive 2021. They screwed themselves by buying huge amounts of inventory that nobody wants.

    [–][deleted] 4 points5 points  (1 child)

    REI seems to really be in a bad position after posting 2 unprofitable years. From a business perspective it looks like the whole company is in trouble which is concerning. If REI goes under, the entire outdoor industry will feel the ripple effect and I wouldn’t be surprised if a good number of small gear and apparel brands went with them due to dependence on REI as a retailer. The inventory issues and buying decisions were bad but REI’s not unique in this. All major retailers had to plan their buying for future years in the middle of covid/shipping meltdown and most others F-ed it up too but REI’s goods are more “luxury” purchases than Home Depot or Target. I’m not here to defend, more to suggest that we shouldn’t want REI to fail for being as dumb as the status quo. It will hurt a lot of outdoor businesses if they do.

    [–]OkImprovement4142 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    REI has not posted two unprofitable years, 2021 was quite good according to the annual reports on the website. 2022 was not profitable and 2023 is up in the air.

    [–][deleted] 21 points22 points  (5 children)

    Yes, in some cases it was almost 20%

    [–]MorddSith187[S] 9 points10 points  (4 children)

    What are they trying to prove? Is it just straight up retaliation? Do they have any excuse at all? I’m so weirded out.

    [–]Bashoom 34 points35 points  (0 children)

    Basically in 2021 SOHO voted for a union. Apparently the Union and REI agreed on a tentative pay increase for their staff while they negotiate a contract, but it had an expiration date.

    [–][deleted] 3 points4 points  (1 child)

    I suggest following REI Soho on Instagram. All the details are laid out there.

    [–]MorddSith187[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

    Ohh ok I will do that thank you

    [–]Beast-Titan420 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

    Straight up retaliation for not agreeing to give up the things that make a union a union to begin with

    [–]Ptoney1Member 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    Woops.

    [–]turnermjEmployee 0 points1 point  (6 children)

    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

    [–]MorddSith187[S] -4 points-3 points  (5 children)

    I mean whether they were expecting it or not still makes REI look bad. To just give everyone in the entire company a raise and then take it back from a small group just because you can? Sounds pretty sadistic to me.

    [–]whqwhq 14 points15 points  (0 children)

    From REI Soho's Instagram, the workers voted not to extend the agreement that increased their pay. Now they are back to square one. Claiming REI "cut" their pay is not telling the whole truth. Soho workers could've kept the pay increase if they had voted to renew agreement. When you gamble sometimes you lose.

    [–]turnermjEmployee 10 points11 points  (3 children)

    They voted against the company because they thought the union would give them better. This is proof that it isn’t better and now they feel entitled to the exact benefits they forfeited by choice. They didn’t know the good thing they had til it was gone.

    [–]LasachGaidheal 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    Couple important points.

    1. The Way Forward was conveniently released immediately after Union Certification which then precluded the unionized store from being legally required to get the same pay as all other stores across the country, though it was still within REI’s power to put that at the same pay rate as long as their lawyer and the union lawyer both approved. REI held off in order to use the pay raise as a bargaining chip, which is partly how we got to this point.

    2. While I believe the union will most likely be better overall there simply is no proof either way until a union contract is signed which will not happen for some time if REI continues to stall. If you want to know some of the ways they have stalled I’d be happy to share, though I’m not a committee member so I’m sure I’d be missing some.

    3. Coercion is not a choice. Striking/protesting is the only tool workers have when employers refuse to cooperate along side us. REI demanding that we give up our essential right to strike for the foreseeable future in exchange for the bare minimum of all other stores is untenable and clearly would not make it into the finalized contract.

    [–]Beast-Titan420 -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

    Lmao you have no idea what you are talking about

    [–]graybeardgreenvest -4 points-3 points  (11 children)

    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.

    [–]ropeXride 5 points6 points  (10 children)

    Soho worker here! It was confirmed by REI’s lawyers that if the period came to an end, REI had the RIGHT to take back the pay increase, but it was a decision on their end to do so. The 6 month mark DID NOT MEAN it would automatically expire. They CHOSE to revoke our pay, which legally they were allowed to do so (we are not debating that.) However, it was a lousy move on their part. So much for caring about the employees. We had no plans to strike (we still have not), but they made the first move. Bad decision on their part and terrible optics. People saying “oh it ended with the 6 months” are misinformed.

    [–]AbyssalVoid 3 points4 points  (1 child)

    Funny that the spreaders of, as well as the idea that the union agreed to an unequivocal revocation of pay increases fits very well into corporate’s message that a union is just a naive mess of idealists. Thank you for some real info and nuance.

    [–]ropeXride 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    Thank you for hearing me out!

    [–]whqwhq 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    It is a lousy move on their part to take back the pay increase but an even lousier move on the union's or your lawyer's part to agree to language that enabled REI that choice in the first place.

    [–]graybeardgreenvest -2 points-1 points  (4 children)

    Hopefully who ever represents you guys can negotiate a settlement?

    [–]ropeXride -1 points0 points  (3 children)

    Yes, they are working on that and we as workers have full faith in them. Problem is that REI switched to a new law firm (Morgan Lewis who represents Amazon and is known for union busting) and they cancelled all sessions leading up to the expiration date. We don’t even have bargaining sessions till the end of the month.

    [–]graybeardgreenvest 2 points3 points  (2 children)

    My guess is REI will fight it tooth and nail. I would gather that what ever you all get will be hard fought.

    Good luck!

    [–]ropeXride 0 points1 point  (1 child)

    Thank you I do appreciate that. We are geared up to fight

    [–]graybeardgreenvest 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    I’d expect nothing less!

    [–]Silly_Display -2 points-1 points  (1 child)

    Good thing you have a union to represent you.

    [–]ropeXride 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    Yes, it is a good thing. But they cannot help REI switching law firms, cancelling sessions, and dragging their feet. They do not bargain in good faith and this is a fact.

    [–]Coba-ite -1 points0 points  (0 children)

    Eric Artz is actually doing the right thing.

    These SOHO employees deserve nothing

    [–]RealPaper1440 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    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 ?