Castleton REI workers gear up for vote to become retailer’s 9th unionized store
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Workers at an Indianapolis REI store will vote Friday on whether or not to become the ninth store of the progressive outdoors retailer in the country to unionize with the United Food & Commercial Workers Local 700.
Leading up to the vote, the workers held a rally Saturday, explaining their motives and publicizing their movement. The national collective has also consistently aired the store’s cause along with supporting their considerably young movement. The first REI store unionized in March 2022 at a New York City location.
In a photo on social media, about a dozen workers at the Castleton store held up pieces of paper printed with “I am voting union yes because” and their handwritten reasons, including “I (heart) REI and I don’t want to see it fail,” “We go further together” and “My coworkers deserve a voice in how their workplace operates.”
“It comes back to holding REI to that better standard the Anderson family started in 1938,” said Dani Baldonado, a sales specialist at the Castleton location.
Washington-based REI has been seen as a more progressive figure within the retail landscape with its sustainability efforts, #OptOutside Black Friday store closures and co-op operation. However, much of that ended up being surface level, Baldonado said. Its focus on profitability, she said, is cutting into its treatment of employees, how they educate customers about potential dangerous outdoor exploits and the company’s values. The shift in the last year is more geared toward selling merchandise to the customer rather than preparing them with both the knowledge and equipment needed.
Both loving the outdoors and looking for part-time work, Baldonado sought a job at REI about two years ago. She took a liking to the company’s mission and the inclusive community it has fostered. Many employees across the county share similar stories. However, in the past year, she said the company has strayed from the values that attracted her to work there.
She detailed communication breakdowns with shifting management, resulting in isolation from the rest of their district and subsequently breaking trust along the way.
REI did not respond to a request for comment from Inside INdiana Business
The pandemic resulted in more people indulging in hobbies and getting outdoors, which led to REI having a great sales year in 2022 with a record $3.85 billion. The company hired more people, but Baldonado said they overhired for that boom and are now laying people off, cutting hours and moving workers from full-time to part-time.
REI has had two recent rounds of layoffs: 257 retail workers in October and 357 employees largely at its headquarters. CEO Eric Artz told workers Jan. 25 that they expected lower revenues and a difficult year ahead.
“I do believe that that could have been done in a better way or costs could have been cut differently so that it wouldn’t impact as many people,” Baldonado said.
Some of the workers’ demands include consistent hours, competitive wages adjusted for inflation, improved communication as well as healthcare, parental leave and PTO adjustments. Baldonado mentioned that they outfit their customers for trips to hike the Camino, the Grand Canyon or Yellowstone National Park, but they can’t receive enough time off to go on those kinds of trips themselves.
Baldonado said she’s the type of person to want to look at the big picture and have a plan. She also said she wants to fully understand all sides of an issue to see what’s the best way forward. When organizing at the location started brewing in May, she said she did her due diligence and believed unionizing was for the best. This move, she said, would ensure that she, her coworkers, her managers and the company at large will be healthier.
“I’m excited for us to be one of those next retailers because we need to hold them to a higher standard,” she said. “It holds these corporations to a higher standard and show that we do all this work and we are struggling so that folks can consume, consume, consume.”
Baldonado talks about how unionizing will hold REI to a higher standard and could inspire other retail workers.
Looking forward, she said there is a good group of workers ready to negotiate and take the emotion out of their argument to show the needs of their movement.
“We’re gonna win,” she said. “We have people on our side. We have a community of co-op members who shop with us who are on our side. We have locals from the Indianapolis community who are on our side as well.”
One of those locals on their side is Indianapolis mayor Joe Hogsett who showed up to a rally in support of the workers last Saturday.
“We’re here for a very serious purpose, and that is the long-term health and wellbeing of working folks, not just at REI, but all over Indianapolis,” he said at the rally. “It unfortunate that management all too often thinks that their profits are the only thing that matters.”
A big piece of unionizing to Baldonado is education. She emphasizes that people hear all sides and not make snap judgments about unions. She said they’ve made a concerted effort to take the emotion out of their movement to show facts and experiences proving their motivation behind unionizing.
“People do have the power to make their voices heard as long as they have that education,” she said. “That’s been a big part of our fight. And our story is making sure that everyone gets those resources matter what side they’re on.”
As for the customer experience, she said they shouldn’t notice a difference and they plan to operate as normal. Behind the scenes, she said they would be receiving better treatment from their employer.
The other eight unionized stores are in New York City; Berkeley, California; Cleveland; Chicago; Boston; Durham, North Carolina; Maple Grove, Minnesota; and Bellingham, Washington. A statement on the REI Employees for Real Change Facebook account said that over 80 potential labor law violations at the eight union stores have been filed against REI.