Workers over at REI are attempting to unionize and
the CEO is not too happy about it.
Now, this is a common story, especially when it comes to any labor related issue.
But what made this one stand out is how Eric Artz,
who is the CEO of REI decided to co opt.
The kind of language that you would hear from, let's say corporate democrats.
Meant to give you the illusion of progressivism when in reality what
they really represent is anything but, so let's listen.
>> For those of you who I have not had the chance to meet, I use he, him pronouns.
And I'm speaking to you today from the traditional lands of the coast Salish
peoples.
So when people ask, why don't we support unions, my answer is simple.
We do not oppose unions, it's that we don't believe,
I do not believe that introducing a union is the right thing for our REI.
>> So again, let's start this off by giving a nod to indigenous people,
mentioning my pronouns.
Now, I'm going to tell you why I'm going to crush your efforts or
attempt to crush your efforts to you denies.
And it's just, listen, I obviously do not have a problem with people announcing
their pronouns, that's not what this is about.
However, I do have a problem with the theater and the optics that get used by
the very people who have no interest in providing real equality for people.
Economic opportunity for people, a better working place for
people, in the context of Congress.
I mean the example, I love to give is,
the goofy theater of members of Congress, kneeling democrats specifically.
Kneeling wearing kente cloths and then doing nothing about police reform,
that was following the George Floyd murder by the way.
>> Yeah, I think this issue is actually complicated, but
I 100% agree that the theater is what drives me nuts.
My pronouns, are he, him, who asked you dude in this context,
why are you telling me that?
And I'll go further than that and they go ahead, like get angry and all that stuff.
If Anna starts with my pronouns, are he, him, that's relevant and
you respect that, right?
If I start with it, you go, why are you randomly bringing that up now, right,
when we're talking about a union drive, why are you telling me your pronouns?
It's so, I know some people just do it regularly,
they do it in every conversation.
I want a blue cheese salad and I'm Okay, but it's not for me,
I'm too old school, right?
It doesn't mean you have to be a weirdo right winger and be like, no,
I don't respect your choices and no, I don't respect your gender.
No, I deeply respected and I'm happy to give you any pronouns you like,
but why are you saying it in this context?
And why are you telling me you're on native American land,
what does that have to do with any of this?
>> Right, exactly.
>> Because what he's trying to do is theater, theater, right?
>> Makes you think he's a good guy, I'm a good guy, I believe in progressive values.
Don't be mad at me, I'm just gonna crush your efforts to unionize,
that's the thing, the juxtaposition is important here.
It's like a perfect illustration of what you see in so many other issues, okay?
Not just in the context of a company attempting to unionize, but also, more
importantly, what you see in Congress more than any other place on on the planet.
>> Yeah, and so, look, the reason why I say it's complicated is because on
the actual substance of the issue.
I don't necessarily agree that he's looking to crush the union, right, so
he doesn't agree with the union at his workplace.
He's the CEO, I think he has every right to make his case, okay, and
it's a co op and it's generally more left wing.
But in a real substantive way, not just the he, him,
Native American lands way, right?
Not the theatrics, but there's real substance behind it at that
particular workplace, okay, now and by the way.
>> Hold on, hold on, hold on,
you called it a co op, I think we need to be very clear about what that means,
because he doesn't refer to it as like a workers co op.
It's a consumer coop and I don't know what that means, like what is it?
>> Okay, see all of this is relevant, right, and you should discuss all of that.
In fact, that leads me to the other point, I was gonna say, so
when I heard what he was saying and I listened to it, right?
And I give everybody a fair hearing, I thought, is going in when he was first
talking about, how good a place it is to work etcetera.
And that might be true, I don't know, right,
then he made it seem like it's this little operation that they've got going.
And to me that makes sense because sometimes size matters in terms of are you
ready for a union, or not ready for a union, etcetera.
So I looked it up,
the revenue last year that we're not talking about their overall worth.
Just the revenue, just last year, 2.75 billion, it's not a little operation, so
that's why like, if he made to me, I'd be super fair about it.
If he made a real case saying,
hey look this is why I don't think the union is right for us.
Okay, it is what it is and we can disagree with that, we might agree with that.
But when you come in with the theatrics and then you just aw shucks,
I'm the little guy and you're making billions of dollars,
don't tell me you can't afford it.
>> Yeah, exactly, 100%, so just to give you a statement,
REI is proud of its progressive policy.
The retailer of outdoor clothing and
equipment operates as a consumer cooperative.
A structure that according to its website allows it to set goals before profits,
what are the goals, the goals are tied to the profits.
It's like a weird statement, anyway,
the Seattle based company highlights the flexible schedules.
So does Uber by the way,
the health services available to its hourly paid retailers.
And each year it closes its approximately 170 U.S retail stores on
Black Friday to give employees a paid day off.
>> So look, it's nice, it's also a little bit of theatrics but
I'm glad they do that.
>> Yeah I'm not saying it's bad but the workers want more and by the way.
The workers are concerned about what's happened to the company's culture during
the pandemic.
They say that it's completely changed and they're concerned, right,
they're worried about their job safety.
And things like that, those are legitimate concerns and, yeah continue.
>> Yeah and last thing on this is that,
look unions often organize at more progressive companies.
Because it's easier because well, why don't you live by your creed, they say.
And then sometimes they get frustrated because then they leave the amazons alone
to a trillion dollar companies.
When that would be fruitful territory to say the least, okay,
that doesn't mean you shouldn't organize progressive companies, okay?
And and so in this case when REI is a relatively progressive
company compared certainly to other corporations, okay?
Now having said that, like I said, it's not a mom and pop shop,
okay, so that's where I think it becomes disingenuous.
Yeah, it's not a trillion dollar company like Amazon, but
when you're making 2 to $3 billion in revenue per year.
You're a pretty giant company, and you could certainly afford to unionize.