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WEKU
WEKU
Business
Alina Selyukh

REI fostered a progressive reputation. Then its workers began to unionize

A pedestrian walks by REI's flagship store in New York, where last year workers formed the company's first union. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

A position at REI was the first and only retail job Claire Chang says she ever considered taking.

A shopping mecca for outdoor enthusiasts, the retailer had cultivated a progressive reputation: promoting sustainability, famously closing on Black Friday to encourage people to play outside, giving workers a paid four-week sabbatical after 15 years and running as a co-op co-owned by its shoppers.

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