Union supporters delivered a robust message to REI this week when the cooperative’s members rejected a batch of candidates for its board of administrators.
The prevailing board had hand-picked three nominees for the poll, passing over a pair of union-backed challengers who referred to as for pro-worker voices on the board. The union responded with a “vote no” marketing campaign that urged members to shoot down the board’s most popular candidates as too “company” and missing a dedication to union rights.
That marketing campaign succeeded, with REI announcing at its annual assembly Thursday that not one of the candidates had garnered sufficient help to safe a seat. The failed trio included two incumbents who had been up for reelection to the board.
“We’re upset with the result, particularly as a result of we’re dropping two incumbent administrators who’ve been helpful contributors to the co-op for a variety of years and one promising new director,” the board’s chair, Chris Carr, mentioned in a press release.
“We’re all feeling fairly elated that the outcomes have proven members are engaged and so they do care what occurs to workers right here.”
– Megan Shan, REI employee
An REI spokesperson advised HuffPost the corporate doesn’t launch the complete voting outcomes, for the reason that end result “is the first situation.” However the union claimed it prompted greater than 100,000 members to vote towards the candidates, which may have led to a convincing rejection.
Megan Shan, a union member and worker at REI’s Durham, North Carolia, retailer, mentioned her co-workers had been “psyched” concerning the end result.
“We’re all feeling fairly elated that the outcomes have proven members are engaged and so they do care what occurs to workers right here,” mentioned Shan. “It is a good signal that persons are watching what REI is doing with regard to our union effort and contract negotiations.”
REI is structured as a member-owned cooperative fairly than a conventional company. However for years, members and staff have alleged REI has lost its way as a co-op and now operates like several profit-hungry retailer. They usually level to the truth that the present board will get to decide on who finally ends up on the poll for board elections, a gatekeeping characteristic that may stifle dissenting voices.
Spencer Platt through Getty Photographs
However the union marketing campaign has tried to problem the board’s grip on REI’s course.
The United Meals and Business Employees and their sister union, the Retail, Wholesale and Division Retailer Union, have organized 11 of REI’s roughly 180 shops since 2022. The corporate has pushed again towards the unionization effort, prompting a slew of unfair labor apply allegations and tainting REI’s reputation as a progressive retailer.
As HuffPost reported in January, union supporters had been stumping for two pro-labor candidates to get on the board: Shemona Moreno, a Seattle-based local weather activist, and Tefere Gebre, a former AFL-CIO executive-turned-Greenpeace USA official. The present board rejected each for the poll, choosing candidates who weren’t open union supporters.
The union marketing campaign took a victory lap on Thursday, saying all of REI’s “unopposed, corporate-backed candidates” had been shot down by members. It mentioned in a press release that the turnout was “seemingly” the best REI had ever seen for a board vote.
REI board members usually serve three-year phrases. In accordance with the co-op’s by-laws, the board will get to decide on board members to serve within the three vacant seats, although solely till subsequent 12 months’s election.
“Transferring ahead, REI ought to cease union busting, negotiate a good contract with organized staff, and fill the vacancies on the board with the candidates that members backed initially,” the union mentioned.
