Members of US outdoor retail co-op REI have voted to reject board candidates following a worker-led campaign. The election result was announced yesterday at REI’s online annual member’s meeting.
The three candidates, made up of two incumbents up for re-election and one new director, had been selected by REI’s existing board, and were running unopposed, meaning members were given the choice to vote either for or against the candidates.
A campaign led by the REI union had encouraged members to vote ‘no’ to the co-op’s slate of candidates, after REI refused to include two union-backed candidates on the original election ballot, despite the nominees receiving over 10,000 signatures of support.
REI released a statement yesterday confirming that none of its candidates had received the number of votes required to be elected to the board, stating it was “disappointed with the outcome”.
At REI’s AGM, board chair Chris Carr confirmed that the three unsuccessful candidates will not be joining the board. Per REI’s bylaws, the three seats will remain vacant until appointed by the current board.
REI workers have been organising since 2022 to union and negotiate contracts with the co-op management. So far, 11 stores have voted to unionise, but none have yet agreed union contracts with REI, while there are currently 35 unfair labour practice charges documenting 175 violations of labour law still pending with the National Labour Relations Board.
A question asked at the AGM suggested “REI is stalling and will never reach a contract with our unionised stores”. In response, REI chief operating officer Cameron Janes said that first contracts “can take multiple years” due to their complexity, and that “everything is on the table”.
Janes added that REI had so far signed 84 “tentative agreements”, and is “committed to making progress as we continue to bargain and negotiate in good faith, meaning we’re going to show up at the table consistently, engage respectfully and work towards agreements that are fair, fiscally responsible, and reflect the needs of the co-op and our employees”.
Related: REI workers want to take co-op ‘back to its roots’
CEO Mary Beth Laughton said that the election result was “a clear sign to me that we have a big opportunity to actively seek out and listen to what our members and employees are telling us”. She expressed a commitment to “elevating more member and employee voices more regularly” and “building deep relationships across our more than 15,000 employees in this vast 25 million member community”.
The REI union is now calling on REI to fill two of its vacant board seat with the candidates it put forward originally – Tefere Gebre, chief program officer of Greenpeace USA and executive vice-president of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, and Shemona Moreno, executive director at 350 Seattle.
Commenting on the result, Gebre said: “Even though REI kept my name off this year’s ballot, today’s results are what my candidacy was all about. I ran for the board because I wanted to advocate for greater transparency and democracy. The results of today’s election are a step toward making that happen. With three vacancies on the board, I’d still be happy to serve and work toward making sure workers and members are represented fairly.”
Despite confirming the outcome of the election, REI has not released the vote figures. REI union has reported 115,000 supporters for its Vote ‘no’ campaign, “likely making it the highest turnout for an election in REI history”.
“Over 115,000 of us went to the polls to make our voices heard and demand change from an REI that has failed to meet its own values and standards”, said Scott Ekin, sales specialist at REI Santa Cruz.
“To see how many people were willing to step forward fills my heart with pride in those I stand side by side with everyday in the workplace. It is my hope that this vote will stand as the foundation for change and build atop it an REI that supports its workers with fair wages, safe workspaces, and can once again take its place as a haven for the lovers of outdoors and those that would fight for them.”
Other topics covered in yesterday’s meeting included the recent controversy around REI’s endorsement, subsequently retracted, of president Trump’s nominee for secretary of the interior Doug Burgum, which had been met with criticism from members. Laughton said that the endorsement had “sent the wrong message” and that the co-op was working to “rebuild trust”.
Laughton also highlighted an “incredibly turbulent” external environment for both the co-op and its industry, including the impact of tariffs, which she said REI was watching “very closely”.
The REI union has expressed hope that Laughton will take the election result as an “opportunity to listen to everyone who voted for workers and members to have a voice in the company’s future”.
