Maple Grove REI Reopens After Workers Picket Store
The Maple Grove Recreation Equipment Inc. (REI) store has reopened after a worker strike last week.
The store closed for the day on Friday, Oct. 27 after union workers walked out and picketed the business. It reopened the following day.
Union officials say REI has engaged in “unfair labor practices and its unilaterally implementing nationwide layoff of more than two percent of workers.”
Union members returned to work on Saturday, but gave leaflets to customers outside the store when they were off work or on break.
A spokesperson for UFCW Local 663, which represents workers at the store, said that they have filed charges against REI with the National Labor Relations Board.
Meanwhile, an REI spokesperson said the company is “engaged in good faith bargaining with stores that have chosen union representation and will continue to participate fully in the negotiating process.
Workers at the Maple Grove REI store unionized this summer. They were the seventh REI store in the country to unionize.
