SoCal Update

Despite corporates best efforts, the workers continue to fight and have their voices heard

From the moment a majority of staff announced our intention to let us , the workers, vote on whether we needed to form a union, Touchstone has done their best to try and silence the will of their employees . They are spending tens of thousands of dollars, money that we helped generate, on union busting lawyers to stop us from making a living wage. They refused to respond to our requests to begin bargaining, only choosing to return our emails well after our initial proposed dates had passed. All this from a CEO who promised he wouldn't be a "union busting CEO".

This started a pattern of deliberate anti-worker tactics to both slow the bargaining process and devalue those who are merely asking for a fair work contract and safer workplace. This includes:

Refusing to agree to our proposal that upper management and the workers will treat each other with respect and dignity.
Refusing to negotiate their unprecedented changes to our health insurance until after we presented them with a full list of proposals, which we did, and then continuing to not negotiate on it and waiting four months before presenting their own full list of proposals.
Illegally increasing the workload of the route setters and refusing to bargain on the subject.
Proposing lower wages and increased health insurance costs and justifying it not because they couldn’t afford it but because they felt it was in the “best interest” of the company.

Our movement is growing and we refuse to be silenced

Every day our support grows from both Touchstone staff and community. It's honestly kind of overwhelming just how much Touchstones members and guest want to support us in our fight for a living wage, safety, and respected in our workplace. We are refusing to back down against their efforts to devalue our work and silence our voice. Some highlights include:

A first of its kind Route Setter strike has inspired climbing gym workers across the country and the world.
Worker led picket of TCS and First Friday events.
Tentative agreements on non-economic proposals with management.
A member and guest mass email campaign that saw thousands of people email management..
Having management listen to its workers for the first time in years!

Moving forward with strength

In order to secure the best contract for ourselves and our coworkers, we look to consolidate our strength with action. The more people willing to stand up against the power and wealth of the corporate class, the more power we have to make the changes we need for a better, more equitable, work place. We build support with the community and with climbing gyms around the US, who are following our bravely following our lead in the fight against corporate greed. The great thing about being in a union is that you we are never alone and stand with those who know our experience as workers against they who think we are cogs in their climbing money machine.

Touchstone's strategy has been to wear us down with insulting proposals, divide us with misleading information, and scare us with acts of retaliation.

Their proposals show that they think we are weak, their deception shows that they think we aren't smart , and they their changes to our work show they think we aren't brave enough to keep going. We fight to prove them wrong.