A win for REI union workers and Co-op members

by Anders Soderquist

(May 20, 2025) — On March 22, just a few weeks after I testified in support of a bill to require big Co-ops like REI to allow workers to have a seat on the board, I was fired. I had been working at REI’s flagship store in downtown Seattle for nearly three years. I care about the company and I really enjoyed working there. Like other workers from REI stores across the country that have unionized, I believe workers need a voice at the Co-op to ensure this Pacific Northwest institution stays true to its founding values. 

But the gap between REI Co-op’s progressive branding and their actions is bigger than the Grand Canyon. For example, REI endorsed Trump’s Secretary of Interior, Doug Burgum. The Co-op’s new CEO, Mary Beth Laughton, retracted the endorsement. An apology doesn’t make up for the action and the damage that was done. Burgum has signed multiple orders to boost drilling on public lands, and is moving to allow mining in national monuments. There’s no excuse for REI Co-op to have backed a billionaire politician who has consistently supported expanded fossil fuel drilling and weakened environmental protections on public lands.

Laughton explained REI’s reasoning behind the decision to support Burgum’s appointment, saying “we wanted a seat at the table,” meanwhile REI Co-op bans its own employees and members from having a seat at the table as members of the co-op’s board of directors. 

Photo: REI Union

Today’s REI board of directors is largely made up of executives from corporations like Exxon Mobile, Proctor and Gamble, and McKinsey Consulting. The board sets its own compensation and allows only its own pre-selected candidates to run for the board of directors. This year REI blocked a member, Seattle-based climate justice activist Shemona Moreno, from even being a candidate for the board.

REI’s apology for endorsing an anti-environment zealot shows the Co-op does change course when worries about profits mount from the backlash from thousands of members and prominent influencers like Pattie Gonia, who has been vocal in her criticism of the Co-Op.  

But there’s a lot more REI needs to do to get back to its true co-op roots. They need to stop union busting and paying big bucks to Trump’s law firm Morgan Lewis to block unionized stores from getting a fair contract. There need to stop illegally withholding pay simply because those workers — including the REI Bellingham store workers — joined a union.

None of this is acceptable from a beloved Pacific Northwest Co-op. But there’s evidence that our work to help REI to walk its talk is paying off. Earlier this year, REI Union workers and REI members launched a campaign to “withhold the vote,” to make our voices heard by voting against REI’s corporate slate of board of director nominees. We won!

On May 8, REI Co-op’s board announced that REI members soundly rejected their slate of cherry-picked, corporate board candidates. Our “Vote No” campaign sent more than 115,000 trackable clicks to the company’s voting page, making it possibly the highest turnout for a board election in REI history. We sent a message loud and clear calling on REI to address union employees’ serious concerns about retaliation, wages and staffing. 

As Joe Mizrahi, Secretary-Treasurer of UFCW 3000 which represents REI Bellingham store workers, said after the big win: “This vote should be a wake up call for REI – listen to workers and members who make this company successful. Live up to the democratic co-op values you claim to value. Stop blocking worker voices and members committed to environmental stewardship from being candidates for the board. We hope new REI Co-op CEO Mary Beth Laughton will take this opportunity to listen to everyone who voted. REI can reclaim its glory of being an iconic Pacific Northwest business when they stop union-busting, negotiate a fair contract with organized workers, and fill the vacancies on the board with the candidates that members backed initially including environmental leaders Tefere Gebre and Shemona Moreno.”

As we face an all out assault on our environment, public health, racial equity and workers rights by the Trump Administration and its corporate allies, it’s more important than ever that companies like REI stand firm in practicing the values they cloak themselves with. It’s time for REI to bargain in good faith, stop breaking the law, and start listening to the workers who make this company successful.

Anders Soderquist is a former REI Co-op green vest, and is currently studying to become a therapist. Soderquest lives in Seattle, Washington.