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 present board had hand-picked three nominees for the poll, passing over a pair of union-backed challengers who known 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 well-liked 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 have been up for reelection to the board.
“We’re upset with the end result, particularly as a result of we’re dropping two incumbent administrators who’ve been beneficial contributors to the co-op for a variety of years and one promising new director,” the board’s chair, Chris Carr, stated in an announcement.
“We’re all feeling fairly elated that the outcomes have proven members are engaged they usually do care what occurs to staff right here.”
– Megan Shan, REI employee
An REI spokesperson informed HuffPost the corporate doesn’t launch the total voting outcomes, because the end result “is the first difficulty.” However the union claimed it prompted greater than 100,000 members to vote towards the candidates, which might have led to a powerful rejection.
Megan Shan, a union member and worker at REI’s Durham, North Carolia, retailer, stated her co-workers have been “psyched” concerning the end result.
“We’re all feeling fairly elated that the outcomes have proven members are engaged they usually do care what occurs to staff right here,” stated Shan. “It is a good signal that individuals are watching what REI is doing with regard to our union effort and contract negotiations.”
REI is structured as a member-owned cooperative quite than a conventional company. However for years, members and employees have alleged REI has lost its way as a co-op and now operates like every 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 by way of Getty Photographs
However the union marketing campaign has tried to problem the board’s grip on REI’s course.
The United Meals and Business Staff 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 observe allegations and tainting REI’s reputation as a progressive retailer.
As HuffPost reported in January, union supporters have 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 stated in an announcement that the turnout was “seemingly” the very best REI had ever seen for a board vote.
REI board members usually serve three-year phrases. In keeping 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.
“Shifting ahead, REI ought to cease union busting, negotiate a good contract with organized employees, and fill the vacancies on the board with the candidates that members backed initially,” the union stated.
