FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 3, 2023
Contact: Chelsea Connor | cconnor@rwdsu.org | 347-866-6259
BREAKING: REI CLEVELAND STRIKE MOVES COMPANY TO NEGOTIATE ELECTION AGREEMENT MINUTES BEFORE NLRB HEARING
UNION ELECTION WILL MOVE AHEAD ON MARCH 3, 2023 WITH ALL NLRA ELIGIBLE WORKERS - A COMPLETE REVERSAL OF REI’S INITIAL POSITION
(CLEVELAND, OH) – Today, at 1:30 PM ET, REI agreed to terms of an election agreement with the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) and the Cleveland office of the NLRB. The agreement was met immediately following workers walking out this morning on a ULP strike demanding the right to vote in a free and fair NLRB election and for the company to stop its unlawful surveillance of workers. The workers intend to unconditionally return to work this afternoon.
The agreement includes all NLRA eligible workers at the Ohio store, a reversal from REI’s position last week. The union election will take place on March 3, 2023 from 12:00 PM - 6:00 PM ET at the Ohio store.
ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND:
As background, please see Monday's statement from the Union, Tuesday's media briefing recording with workers, Thursday's ULP filing and letter from U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown, and today’s strike announcement. Videos and photos of the walkout can be seen and used by the media (Photo/Video Credit: RWDSU) here.
The worker-led unionization effort in the Beachwood suburb of Cleveland, Ohio has been underway for well over a year, but workers cite the overwhelming win at REI, Inc. in SoHo, New York as having put the “battery in our backs” to push to a majority of card signers and file for election. On January 11, 2023, a delegation of REI, Inc. workers at the Ohio store formally filed for a union election with Region 8 of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) seeking representation with the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU). This came on the heels of two stores winning their union elections in both the flagship SoHo, New York and in Berkeley, California stores. Despite REI, Inc.'s every effort to union bust coast-to-coast, workers yet again filed for a union election in Ohio.
Workers at the Ohio store hoped they wouldn't need to endure the same union busting campaign their colleagues on the coasts did, but union busting has already begun at the store, with workers being asked to join meetings as much as twice a day.
Last week, REI, Inc. refused to reach a Stipulated Agreement with the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) to move ahead with a union election at the Ohio store. The Cleveland office of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) commenced a hearing today, Friday, February 3, 2023. The hearing process, which can prove to be a lengthy distraction and delay, stifling workers' voices, is something workers did not have to endure during the prior two REI, Inc. union elections. The outcome, which may not come for weeks, delaying the election, will determine, if, when and how workers can proceed.
The Union seeks to represent all non-supervisory employees at the store, a presumptively appropriate bargaining unit. But REI has put forth meritless assertions to delay the election. First, REI claims that sales leads are supervisors under the law and therefore cannot unionize; second, that workers in the shop section of the store do not share a community of interest with the store’s retail workers; and third, that certain workers are “casual” employees and shouldn’t vote.
RWDSU vehemently disagrees with REI’s objections. It is especially galling because, as the Company unnecessarily fights RWDSU in Ohio, it is currently bargaining contracts with workers holding these same classifications at the SoHo, New York and Berkley, California stores. REI’s hypocrisy is union-busting plain and simple and is a meek attempt to exclude more than half of the proposed bargaining unit to be eligible to vote.
REI also seeks to dismiss the Union’s election petition outright, citing an NLRB case from 1962 involving a union election in the South where the employer made inflammatory racial appeals against unionization. How this has any relationship to the Union’s petition in Ohio in 2023 is anyone’s guess, but RWDSU is incensed that REI would make such an implication in its NLRB filing and minimize both the racial and labor struggles in the South during that time period.
When successful, the RWDSU will represent approximately 55 current NLRA eligible workers in the Beachwood, Ohio store in contract negotiations. The store currently operates at a 60% staffing level of its full capacity, potentially increasing that number to over 70. The Union seeks to represent all non-supervisory employees at the store, which includes all full- and part-time sales specialists, technical specialists, visual presentation specialists, shipping and receiving specialists, certified technicians and mechanics, operations leads, sales leads, and shipping and receiving leads.
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The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) represents 100,000 members throughout the United States. The RWDSU is affiliated with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW). For more information, please visit our website at www.rwdsu.org, Facebook:/RWDSU.UFCW Twitter:@RWDSU.