Across the country, a growing number of retail workers are choosing to unionize — including many who work for some of the outdoor industry’s most celebrated brands.
On Friday, workers at a Patagonia store in Manhattan, New York, started the process of joining a labor union. A “supermajority” of the SoHo store’s roughly 30 employees signed cards indicating their desire to join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU).
The workers are asking Patagonia to voluntarily recognize their unionization effort. If the brand declines, the employees will hold a vote to determine whether they officially join RWDSU.
It’s only the second Patagonia store in the U.S. to move toward unionization. The first was a store in Reno, Nevada, which voted in 2024 to join the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW). Patagonia declined to recognize that union, which remains in ongoing negotiations with the company.
Workers at the Manhattan store outlined several complaints against Patagonia’s policies. Those include reversals of benefits promised upon hiring, reduced time off, inflexible scheduling, and a lack of employee protections.
In a brief statement, Patagonia would not comment on whether it plans to recognize the latest union: “Right now, our priority is to understand the concerns of our SoHo team,” Patagonia spokesperson Corley Kenna told GearJunkie.
‘A Slow Erosion of Benefits’
In a Monday interview with GearJunkie, SoHo store employee Ben Bonnema explained why the store’s workers had decided that unionization was necessary.
Bonnema has worked at the store for three years as a “Customer Experience Guide,” or salesperson. He said there has been “a slow erosion of benefits” since he began, like the removal of tuition reimbursements, professional development opportunities, and certain mental health benefits from healthcare coverage.
Paid time-off has also been reduced over time. When Patagonia told store employees in the fall that they’d no longer have a week off between Christmas and the New Year, that sparked the first conversations between employees about joining a union, Bonnema said.
Moreover, Bonnema would like to see Patagonia adopt “just cause” protections, a legal status that protects workers from arbitrary or unfair firings. Without union representation, most U.S. employers adopt “at will” employment, meaning most workers can be fired at any time for any legal reason.
“When I asked about this, the response I got was, ‘Well, we’re a business,’” Bonnema said. “I just want a real say in my working conditions beyond the occasional survey.”
Patagonia Responds
When asked about the Manhattan store’s unionization, Patagonia sent GearJunkie a brief statement, along with an explanation of some of the benefits still offered to workers. For starters, the pay for all New York employees of the brand starts at $28.25/hour, along with an annual bonus. (The average retail wage in New York is $18.66/hour, according to ZipRecruiter.)
In addition, Patagonia covers the full monthly healthcare premium for both full-time and part-time workers, “from day one.”
“Patagonia respects our team’s right to make an informed decision as to whether to form a union,” the company’s spokesperson said. “We also support their right to vote. We want everyone in the store to have a voice in this important decision and to do so with all of the facts about what this means for them as we work towards an election in the coming weeks.”
Growing Momentum for Labor Unions
Patagonia employees chose RWDSU to represent them, in part, because it’s a “sister union” of UFCW, meaning the Manhattan workers will still be able to organize alongside unionized Patagonia workers in Reno, Nevada.
Nearby, an REI store became the first location to unionize in 2022. Since then, 10 more REI stores have joined either RWDSU or UFCW, resulting in an increasingly contentious fight over workers’ rights.
In May 2025, unionized REI workers claimed a major victory in the co-op’s annual election for its board of directors. Earlier this month, workers at the 11 unionized REI stores voted against an initial contract proposal from REI, which means collective bargaining negotiations will continue.
New York City workers, in particular, have led the charge for unionizing in recent years, including at climbing gyms.
Climate Change and Workers’ Rights
Even though Patagonia offers high wages for its New York workers, that’s still not enough for them to live and raise families, given NYC’s high cost of living, RWDSU spokesperson Chelsea Connor told GearJunkie.
“Patagonia is a specialty retailer like REI,” Connor said. “That’s not just sales skills. Workers have to have other knowledge, like understanding how climbing equipment works. That’s a skill set that needs to be paid well.”
A historic outdoor brand, Patagonia has made major efforts toward environmental conservation. The brand made headlines in 2022 when founder Yvon Chouinard announced that the company would become fully dedicated to addressing climate change. Bonnema said he respects Patagonia’s broader goals, but also thinks it needs to take care of workers along the way.
“I really love all the things Patagonia does for conservation,” Bonnema said. “I feel good about the fact that our profits go to fight climate change, and I also feel like the climate movement and the labor movement are intertwined. We generate those profits, so we can’t be left behind in that process. And all workers deserve a say in their working conditions.”
Read the full article here