North Face Gets Caught in Movement Gyms’ Escalating Labor Fight

More than 600 Movement Gyms members have pledged to freeze their memberships, while similar organizing efforts are already underway elsewhere in the fitness industry

Workers and supporters rallied outside North Face store locations on Monday in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles, Northern California and New Jersey with a single demand: North Face owner VF Corporation needs to cut its corporate partnership with Movement Gyms until the climbing gym operator negotiates in good faith with workers.

And there’s a looming deadline of July 18, when the activewear company, which sponsors Movement climbing competitions and supplies the climbing gym with specially branded gear, is set to co-sponsor Global Climbing Day with the VC-backed Movement Gyms.

The coordinated action marks an escalation in a labor dispute that’s been ongoing at the climbing gym chain, which was founded in 2009 by CEO Anne-Worley Moelter and Mike Moelter. The 30+ location chain offers yoga and group fitness classes in addition to climbing.

Movement workers have already gathered commitments from more than 600 members to freeze their memberships and engage in pickets at several locations across the country. The pledge doesn’t trigger automatically, but is meant to give workers leverage if they decide to escalate their campaign further.

Employees have been organizing at Movement since 2021, and over 500 workers have unionized across 10 of the climbing gym operator’s locations. Workers United filed multiple Unfair Labor Practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board in May, accusing Movement of bad-faith bargaining, worker intimidation and unlawful changes to working conditions at unionized locations. 

“We just began negotiating here in San Francisco, but fellow Movement workers across the country have been dealing with Movement’s bad faith bargaining for years,” said Merit Hagenkort, a front desk lead at Movement San Francisco. “It’s clear that the company is trying to make this as hard as possible for us. But we have strong relationships with Movement members and have seen a lot of support for our efforts, so we know we can count on them to have our backs.”

Workers point out that VF’s 2020 Human Rights Policy explicitly commits the company to insisting that partners respect workers’ freedom of association and collective bargaining rights — a direct contradiction to its Movement partnership, organizers say. In addition to North Face, VF is the parent company of Timberland, Vans, EastPak and JanSport.

Lynne Fox, the president of Workers United, sent a letter to the CEO of VF and the global brand president of The North Face requesting a meeting before Monday’s activation. The group, known for backing Starbucks employees who have successfully organized hundreds of locations, said no meeting has been scheduled.

“We believe that, as the allegations against Movement mount and the NLRB finds more violations of the law, Movement’s conduct creates greater risk of reputational damage for its partners like VF and The North Face,” Ben Bennett, deputy director of organizing at Workers United, told ATN.

Movement workers have also called on USA Climbing, the national governing body for competitive climbing, to sanction events only at facilities that respect workers’ rights.

Bennett observes that a changing tide of young workers could change the industry as a whole, not just climbing. Workers United is already seeing fitness-sector campaigns in motion; they just haven’t surfaced publicly yet.

In an interview with Athletech News earlier this year, he noted that while the fitness industry courts Gen Z and younger Millennials as consumers, the same demographic makes up much of the gym and studio labor force, and they have a different set of expectations.

“There are polls that suggest that Gen Z is the most supportive of labor unions in the U.S.,” he said. “This is a generation that is less willing than other generations to just let themselves be exploited in the workplace and is willing to assert its rights.”

In a statement to ATN, Movement Gyms said it is “committed to being one of the best places to work in the climbing industry.”

“This commitment is a core pillar of our company strategy and reflects our focus on creating workplaces where team members feel respected, supported, and able to grow,” the company said.

At unionized locations, Movement added that it is “meaningfully participating at each negotiation table.”

Movement declined to comment on specific NLRB matters, citing ongoing legal proceedings, but said it takes those matters seriously and participates in collective bargaining through established legal channels.

The company said it “respects employees’ legal right to decide whether they want union representation, and our responsibility is to engage lawfully, respectfully, and with integrity.”

VF and North Face didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.