REI could be heading into its busiest stretch of the year facing a boycott.
Unionized employees will vote next week on whether they should ask customers not to shop at the outdoor retailer during its anniversary sale in May. A vote in favor of the boycott would mark a major escalation in the workers’ yearslong battle for a first union contract.
“I do believe there will be some big support for this, and unfortunately so,” said Anni Saludo, an employee of 15 years at REI’s Durham, North Carolina, location. “It’s not an easy ask, but it is the only avenue I feel that we have to get them to listen to us.”
Workers have organized 11 of REI’s roughly 190 stores over the past four years in a push for higher wages and a voice on the job. REI, which bills itself as a progressive, member-owned cooperative, still hasn’t agreed to a collective bargaining agreement for any of those stores.
The purpose of the boycott would be to force REI to close a deal rather than face lost sales at a critical time. The retailer spends weeks hyping its anniversary sale, when it offers juicy discounts on camping and hiking gear just ahead of summer. Many REI shoppers hold out for the sale to make their biggest purchase of the year with a member coupon.
An REI spokesperson called the upcoming boycott vote “disappointing,” and said the retailer was “committed to reaching an agreement that supports employees and the co-op’s long-term health.”
“Actions like this aimed at weakening the business can have real, lasting consequences, and put the jobs, wages, benefits, and future opportunities employees depend on at risk,” the spokesperson said in an email. “This certainly seems to undermine the very outcomes the union says it is focused on.”
“It’s not an easy ask, but it is the only avenue I feel that we have to get them to listen to us.”
– Anni Saludo, REI worker
If workers at the union stores vote in favor, the boycott would be called for both in-store and online shopping for the extent of the sale, which typically runs for about 10 days leading up to Memorial Day. Shoppers could expect to encounter picket lines at both union and nonunion locations.
The success of the boycott would hinge on the union’s ability to publicize it — and REI shoppers’ willingness to honor it. The co-op’s core customer base tends to skew young and liberal, and Saludo said she’s been heartened by the support from customers when union stores have gone on strike in the past.
“Our [co-op] members will absolutely understand why we’re doing this,” she said.
Workers at the organized stores are represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers union and its affiliate, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. The groups have accused REI of a slew of labor law violations throughout the campaign, including retaliating against pro-union workers and bargaining in bad faith to avoid an agreement. REI has denied the claims.
Accusations of a “scorched-earth union-busting campaign” have taken some sheen off REI’s reputation as a high-road employer more concerned with climate change than corporate profits. The retailer is represented in labor talks by Morgan Lewis, a management-side law firm known for playing hardball with unions.
Bruce Bennett via Getty Images
The two sides appeared to make some progress in negotiations last year when they agreed to a framework for bargaining and reached several tentative agreements. But they never settled on major economic issues, including pay raises.
REI recently told the union it believed they had reached an “impasse” in talks and that it planned to unilaterally implement a final offer over the union’s objections. REI also announced it would be lowering its starting wages and watering down vacation and retirement benefits this summer, Bloomberg reported last week.
The cooperative has struggled financially in recent years. It reported a 6% sales decrease and a net loss of $156 million for 2024. It shuttered its tour and events business and laid off hundreds of workers in early 2025. It also brought on a new CEO, Mary Beth Laughton, in hopes of turning around its slumping sales.
A boycott isn’t something the union would take lightly. Although it could provide a new pressure point on REI, it could also be divisive among the employees at nonunion stores that the UFCW hopes to organize. And if the boycott doesn’t have its intended effect, it could end up emboldening management to hold out rather than expediting a deal.
Saludo said she and other workers don’t want to inflict financial pain on their own employer but feel they’ve been left with little choice with the way bargaining has dragged on.
“This is a co-op not acting like a co-op,” she said. “We want REI to be the REI it says it is.”
This story has been updated with comment from REI.
About the Author
