REI Workers in Santa Cruz Vote to Unionize

"I'm proud to stand with my coworkers and take this first step towards a better REI for workers, consumers, and the larger outdoor community," said Truitt Archibald, an REI Sales Specialist at the Santa Cruz store, in a press release issued on March 14.

"As green vest, it's our hard work and expertise that make REI the brand that it is," Archibald said. "We deserve the compensation respect, and safer working conditions that only a union contract can guarantee."​

In March of 2022, REI's flagship store in the SoHo neighborhood of New York City was the first of the company's 181 stores to unionize. Eight more stores followed suit, with successful union elections in Berkeley, California; Cleveland, Ohio; Chicago, Illinois; Durham, North Carolina; Boston, Massachusetts; Bellingham, Washington; Maple Grove, Minnesota; and Indianapolis, Indiana.

Founded in 1938, Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI) is structured as a cooperative. The company presently operates with 23 million members, and over 16,000 employees.

REI's website states: "The Earth is a co-op"

"We’re a community [...] making a different kind of outdoor company. Built by members, not investors," REI's website states. "Accountable to each other, not shareholders."


More information about the effort to unionize REI stores can be found at:

REI Union
https://www.ourrei.com/