Workers at an REI store near Cleveland voted 27 to 12 in favor of unionizing on Friday, becoming the co-op’s third store to unionize.
The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union said it prevailed in the vote at the store in Beachwood, OH following a tally by the National Labor Relations Board. REI has a week to file objections to the results.
“Tonight, we can finally say that REI Cleveland is a union store,” Nick Heilgeist, a member of the REI Cleveland Organizing Committee and a retail sales specialist, said in a press release. “We green vests are united in our desire to create more transparent and consistent policies and a workplace that will be sustainable for workers for years to come.”
On January 11, employees at the REI store in Beachwood, a suburb of Cleveland, filed to have a union election and sought RWDSU representation following elections that resulted in the unionization at REI stores in Berkeley, CA and New York City’s SoHo neighborhood. The worker group cited unfair wages and poorly structured hours.
In line with those stores, RWDSU said the Beachwood REI union would represent all non-supervisory employees. Beachwood’s unionization efforts have been ongoing for more than a year.
RWDSU said they’ve also filed unfair labor practice charges for REI’s alleged union-busting, including one-on-one “intimidation” of workers and “unlawful surveillance.” REI corporate denied those allegations.
REI said in a statement, “On Friday, March 3, employees at our Cleveland, OH store participated in an in-person election to determine whether they would be represented by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union,” said the REI Co-op in a statement in the newsroom of REI’s website. “The initial vote tally in the Cleveland election is 27 votes for union representation and 12 votes against.
“REI believes in the right of every eligible employee to vote for or against union representation,” the statement continued. “We fully supported our Cleveland employees through the voting process, and we will continue to support our employees going forward as they begin to navigate the collective bargaining process.
“Together we will continue to focus on serving the Cleveland outdoor community as we have done since 2018.”
