Almost half of workers at Recreational Equipment Inc. (REI) said they have experienced or witnessed racial discrimination at work, according to a new survey report from the National Employment Law Project (NELP).
Independent researchers from NELP also found instances of workplace discrimination based on age and gender, a lack of upward mobility for workers of color, and widespread discontent among workers for what employees said are inconsistent scheduling practices. About 64% of workers surveyed said REI is becoming a worse place to work.
“This is a company that talks about how it’s striving to become an inclusive, anti-racist, multicultural organization,” said Amy Traub, a co-author of the report and a senior researcher and policy analyst at NELP, “and we did not find many signs of that striving in this report.”
The report, released on May 13, comes after workers formed REI’s first union at the New York City store in SoHo, one of the company’s flagships, three years ago with the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union (RWDSU). Workers have since unionized at several other stores and remain without a contract. Workers at the unionized stores in New York and Cleveland have told Prism that REI has not attempted to bargain in good faith. The company also laid off 428 workers in January.
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Read the full story at prismreports.org.
