“A New Movement”: The Labor Reckoning in the U.S. Climbing Industry
“...Capitalism is in its death throes…White supremacist, colonial, patriarchal, capitalism are untenable structures to live within because it’s all about extraction, so eventually things collapse because they’re not generative. They are about what we can hoard and who can win. So, we know we’re at this moment where life on Earth cannot sustain itself in these systems…those in power have taken, taken, taken, and the earth is telling, telling, telling us that it’s not going to work. So, we’re in this moment of great change.” - Chani Nicholas, Astrologer
Listen to the Terra Podcast Episode 7 “A New Movement”: A Conversation with Amy King for a more candid take on this topic
(Rotten) Core Values
As a 2nd-year PhD in Music Theory and Cognition at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois, Amy King was trying to decide which climbing gym to join in order to shake the stress of school and work. Despite being further out of her way geographically, King landed on Movement’s Wrigleyville location because of the company’s emphasis on community and their “Core Values.”
“I’m just a Movement member…and I didn’t really know much about Movement when I joined,” King shared with me. “I had heard rumors that Movement is evil…and I was just trying to pick which one to go to, and I picked Movement just because of the community…and even on their ‘About’ page they talk about these ‘Core Values’ and all the philanthropy they’re doing, and how community is so important. And I was like, ‘Yeah! I want to be a part of this.This is a place that I can be proud of.”
Splashed across Movement’s homepage in big, bold, white, block letters reads, “one big community,” and below it a subheading that claims that the gym is bringing “connection,” “laughter,” “adventure,” and again, “community,” “to your neighborhood.” Head to the “why us” tab and click “About,” and you’ll find Movement’s “Core Values” that originally drew Amy to purchasing her membership in September 2022.
Movement’s “Core Values” are as follows:
Partnership
We are all responsible for contributing to the achievement of a defined goal. Sometimes we follow, sometimes we lead, but we are always working towards a common vision. We are better together working as a team.
Passion
We love what we do and share our psych with each other and our community.
Inclusion
A call to action to pursue equity and diversity within our company and our community.
Integrity
We do what is right for our people, our community, and our company – even when no one is looking.
Innovation
We are not bound by convention when solving problems and/or identifying opportunities—we find better ways to do things.
On their “Why Us” page are some other bold claims like:
we stand for transformation
We stand for social and environmental change. We stand up to intimidation and self-doubt. We’re all on a journey to become the best version of ourselves – at the gym and in the world.
we are a community for all
No matter where you are in your climbing, yoga, or fitness journey – in here, you belong. So, bring your authentic self to this inspiring and supportive space.
you belong here
You are welcome no matter where you are in your climbing, yoga, or fitness journey. And we’re here for it.
However, recent events that took place at Movement Chicago opened King’s eyes to the company’s hypocrisy and duplicitous nature, and made it very clear that these statements are just the product of extremely good marketing.
On Friday, December 8, 2023, Movement Chicago Fitness and Yoga program instructors were informed by Movement leadership that they were being terminated effective end-of-day on Friday, December 15th, 2023. Without any prior notice or warning, the only explanation offered by Movement leadership for this sudden mass cut was “underperformance” of the classes. That week, with grief and heavy hearts, instructors and community members attended what would be the last of all fitness and yoga classes for the foreseeable future.
Instructors were left devastated, enraged, and bewildered without proper communication from Movement leadership, without work, and therefore, their income in the midst of the holiday season.
"There was zero feedback provided to me regarding low-performing classes,” a former Movement Chicago Instructor shared. The day after, on Saturday, December 9, 2023, Movement leadership notified a limited number of Chicago Yoga and Fitness participants that there would be a “pause” on all Yoga and Fitness classes.
This distressing blow came just one week after Movement Chicago sent an email to its members outlining a pricing increase for all memberships beginning January 1, 2024 ranging between $1-$15 a month depending on the membership type. In this email Movement reminded members of what benefits were included in their membership listing “unlimited yoga and fitness classes” as one of them.
A Petition that Reflects True Community
Countless community members were shocked by Movement’s decision to cut these programs that were supposedly “underperforming.” Fueled by their solidarity with the Fitness and Yoga instructors whose livelihoods were most harmed by this decision, King along with other fellow Chicago Movement members have organized under the name Chi Movement Solidarity and crafted a petition demanding that Movement leadership take accountability and act in accordance with their “Core Values.”
Chi Movement Solidarity’s petition lists these demands:
• A formal apology to all Movement members and staff with a plan outlining steps leadership will take to prevent this type of decision from occurring again
• Reinstatement of the programs and all fired instructors with back pay
• A written commitment to partner with the rehired instructors that includes a list of action steps (no empty promises!)
• A partial refund to members whose memberships were active during the “pause”
• New contracts for all current and rehired employees to include a goodwill notice period of at least 2 weeks before layoffs
• Commitment to communicate program performance to supervisors on a monthly basis
• Host at least two listening sessions with Chicago local gym staff, instructors, and members
You can read and sign the full petition here. Right now, the goal is 1,000 signatures.
The petition explains that “Movement members nationwide who sign this petition have the option (but are not obligated) to pledge to cancel their Movement memberships should these demands not be met or negotiated with Chi Movement Solidarity’s petition committee within the time frames specified for each action item.”
This petition isn’t only addressing the concerning labor practices of Chicago Movement gyms. It also advocates for fair and just treatment of staff across all of Movement’s 31 locations, including the forthcoming gyms in Fairfax, Virginia and Centennial, Colorado. Chicago Movement Solidarity’s work benefits Movement members and employees nationwide by seeking to prevent this from happening at any locations, including local gyms that may be acquired by Movement in the future. This petition reflects the power of the people and of true community.
“When we hold Movement leadership accountable now, we ensure a better future for everyone in the greater climbing community,” wrote Chicago Movement Solidarity on Instagram.
Your individual support is still vital to this initiative even if you’re not local to Chicago. The petition states two reasons for this:
1. If only Chicago members petition, Movement may just close the Chicago gyms (remember, we’re also not trying to cancel Movement or close any gyms—see our previous post on that—we’re trying to protect our community)
2. This isn’t just about Chicago. It’s the entire climbing community. Movement acquired 9 gyms in 2023. It could be your gym next. So we need to stand together to hold Movement leadership accountable and keep our community safe.
Petition supporters shared their reasons for signing and it’s clear that the Yoga and Fitness classes were treasured, valued, and in reality, incredibly popular leading many to question Movement leadership’s true motivations for abruptly slashing these programs.
A Compassionate Manager Reaches Out, Employees Speak Their Truth, Movement Leadership Takes Punitive Measures
Equally caught off guard by the unexpected news, Christian Marquez, the former Fitness Program Manager at both the Wrigleyville and Lincoln Park Movement locations, said, “Since Tony Ferrari came into his role as regional director (beginning of Q3 I believe), there was a push for Fitness and Yoga to ramp up class attendance, workshops/clinics, and personal training. There was a plan to check in monthly to see how we were progressing towards our goals, and up until this point, I was told that fitness was on the right track and doing a good job of addressing all of the priorities outlined by Tony himself.”
Even more confusing was the fact that on December 4, 2023, just four days before the slew of unorthodox layoffs, Jeremy Levitt (CEO) sent an email to Movement employees nationwide (including Chicago Yoga and Fitness instructors), congratulating them on growth and performance in 2023. With enthusiasm Levitt assured employees that Movement’s capital gains will be used to continue fulfilling Movement’s commitment to “...members, team members, and the entire climbing community.” Levitt concluded the email with, “I look forward to all we will continue to accomplish together in 2024!” Movement gifted every team member a Mammut jacket. It’s like a pizza party, but you can wear it.
Marquez was hoping for a sufficient explanation as to why Fitness and Yoga were indefinitely paused with no plans to reinstate either program when in their most recent meeting it was discussed how well the Fitness programs were performing. “I mentioned how disrespectful this felt, as the email was the opposite of every message regarding the program’s wellness relayed to me up to that point,” Marquez expressed. “I pressed for a clear reason or metric they were using to judge performance, and my messages were ignored.”
Concerned for his team’s wellbeing, Marquez wanted to communicate his pride in his fellow instructors’ work and compassion for how this drastic measure would impact them. “I sent an email to my fitness team, telling them how this decision caught me by surprise,” Marquez shared. “I wrote about how proud I was of them and that the team was not underperforming in my opinion, and that we were in fact producing some of the best classes and workshops since the gym’s inception. I ended with my apologies that all of this was happening, and a note on how I hope everyone was able to land on their feet.”
But this act of care didn’t sit right with Movement leadership. “An hour later, Raphy Francis called me and said that ‘as a manager, the expectation is to uphold the messaging coming from Movement. Since you sent an email disagreeing, you’re effectively terminated immediately,’” Marquez recalled.
Francis refused to provide Marquez with any real explanation aside from adhering to the sentiment that “this was a decision that Movement leadership made.” Later that same evening, Marquez went into Movement Wrigleyville to collect his things from his desk, and spoke with Francis privately in an attempt to gain an understanding of why he was being fired from his position. “Unfortunately, he again could provide no answers/consolation, and stuck to how this decision was final and from Movement’s leadership. I asked if he was a part of this decision. He hesitated, but eventually mentioned that yes, Movement ‘leadership’ felt this was a necessary move. I left shortly after,” Marquez said.
Marquez isn’t the only one to be fired for “disagreeing” with Movement leadership. Just days after Chi Movement Solidarity was formed in mid-December 2023, an anonymous former Movement employee contacted the group and wrote, “Just wanted to share that I was just fired for participating in this IG page and making comments ‘against Movement’ on Facebook.’”
These punitive actions that Movement is taking against employees who are simply speaking their truth is standard protocol for a corporation that wants to squash any behavior that they deem disloyal or defiant in a desperate attempt to control the narrative and protect their image, so that they can save face with their customer base, and therefore, their bottom line.
“This decision forcibly took me away from my friends in the climbing community, and has been one hell of a mental trip,” reflects Marquez. “I can't speak for most of my team, but I know that a few have a bad taste left in their mouth, and that this paints the climbing community in a negative light. I know that the decisions of a few don't indict the whole community, but I can definitely understand the feeling of never wanting to be a part of a place like Movement again. Unfortunate all around. I feel more at peace knowing that me and my team were actually doing what Movement claimed to be about, in stark contrast to the leadership team.”
Ironically, Movement leadership’s cowardly actions only fuel and bolster the resolve of those in support of the petition to hold them accountable. “Movement leadership is scared,” Chi Movement Solidarity wrote on their Instagram. “They know a united group of their members standing to hold them accountable is a force to be reckoned with. They’re trying to stop us. But they can’t. We are strong because we are united. And we will not give up.”
Movement Climbing Gym and its History of DARVO Manipulation Tactics
Movement is engaging in DARVO manipulation tactics. DARVO is an acronym that was coined by Dr. Jennifer J. Freyd, Professor Emerit of Psychology at University of Oregon and the Founder and President of the Center for Institutional Courage. Dr. Freyd coined DARVO to describe the litany of defense strategies perpetrators of wrongdoing, particularly sexual offenders, will use to avoid being held accountable for their behavior.
DARVO stands for “Deny, Attack, and Reverse Victim and Offender." According to Dr. Freyd, “The perpetrator or offender may Deny the behavior, Attack the individual doing the confronting, and Reverse the roles of Victim and Offender such that the perpetrator assumes the victim role and turns the true victim – or the whistle blower – into an alleged offender.”
Chi Movement Solidarity detailed how Movement leadership is exhibiting DARVO behavior.
Deny:
Movement has outright ignored the majority of input they received from gym members and employees local and nationwide
Movement took no real accountability for the harm this mass firing caused and instead of listening to and responding to community feedback they doubled down on the decision stating that it was necessary
Saying that the “pause” and the way they handled it really isn't a problem because they’re actually doing the community a service by being dedicated to delivering quality classes
Attack:
Movement fired employees for supporting Chi Movement Solidarity’s efforts and petition to hold leadership accountable
In a meeting Movement leadership said, “Bridges burn both ways,” in regards to the possibility of bringing back former instructors who were simply trying to communicate with them (This is also a prime example of Reverse Victim and Offender)
Their employee handbook encourages a spirit of open communication, but they’re blaming their former employees for doing just that: communicating
Reverse Victim and Offender:
Tony Ferrari sent an email to staff claiming that, “This difficult decision was made after carefully assessing the financial sustainability and participation trends of these programs” – Ferrari and leadership took no responsibility for their lack of forethought as they had just hired four new Yoga and Fitness Instructors just days before the mass firings
Movement leadership has offered non-apologies in the form of we “regret the disruption this has caused” aka “I’m sorry you’re upset”
Offering empty promises with no action to support them. They sent an email stating that they’ll bring back instructors by the end of 2024, but haven’t kept any of their former instructors in the loop about this process
Movement leadership co-opted specific language that Chi Movement Solidarity has been using in their social media posts, as well as in the petition. Words like “sustainable,” “partner,” “collaborate,” and “community”
“People that whistleblow within organizations tend to be more loyal not less loyal,” explains Dr. Jennifer Freyd. “They do it because they want to protect the institution. They care. They want it to be better. So, a way you can reward such people is by thanking and acknowledging them, and then demonstrating you’re paying attention to what they said and actually making changes. So, hear them, acknowledge the problem, and fix it.”
These unceremonious firings reveal what had already become plain across Movement gyms in other parts of the country: if leadership decides that an employee isn’t acting in full compliance and allegiance to the company, and their actions run counter to Movement’s messaging and agenda, there’s a high risk that the employee will lose their job.
This is not the first, only, and last time that Movement leadership will engage in what’s called DARVO manipulation tactics. In fact, I personally experienced this abusive treatment first-hand as an employee of Planet Granite in Portland, Oregon from 2014-2016 before they became Movement.
When this location first opened in 2014, we went through several trainings. Renee Deangelis, Movement’s former CCO, and Jeff Ceccacci, Portland’s manager at the time, indoctrinated us into what they called the “PG Vibe.” Their definition of this “vibe” was something along the lines of friendly, warm, welcoming, casual, but professional. The intention was to make everyone feel welcome, like a “family,” which we know now in 2024 is a giant red flag. I began to wonder what do “values” and “vibes” mean at a corporation that had a team of mostly cis, white men in upper management positions who paid their employees less than a living wage with no health benefits?
My time at Planet Granite was tenuous and difficult to say the least. It woke me up to how white men have the power to silence anyone who speaks out against them and how corporations are only in it for the money and nothing else.
In 2016, I didn’t feel like part of the family anymore after I published an essay that specifically addressed the way that I had been dismissed by Ceccaci for wanting to change the name of our women climbing night from “Beta Babes” to “Women Climb Night.” The essay also criticized the rampant sexism myself and so many others were experiencing in the gym.
In hindsight, this piece couldn’t be more of a reflection of where I was in my feminist journey. The writing is completely outdated and mired in white feminism. There are a lot of sentences that make me absolutely cringe when I read them now. A huge part of me wants to take the essay off the website, but I’ve decided to keep it up to show that we can change and evolve in our thinking.
A major problem in my argument was that I was only concerned about how the space was unsafe for cis, white women like me. I didn’t once mention in my essay how a title like “Beta Babes” might not resonate with trans, nonbinary, and/or genderqueer folks. Simultaneously, since that time nearly eight years ago, I have seen the word “babe” being used in an array of contexts to include a myriad of genders, and I no longer feel so staunchly opposed to it.
Nevertheless, the key takeaway should be that if you’re trying to center and support a marginalized community they should be the ones to determine the language used to describe themselves.
I could see how me publicly voicing this more nuanced, hindsight perspective would lead some folks to conclude that the entire situation was blown out of proportion, but I’m still not of the mindset that younger Erin was taking things “too far.” I was practicing my right to speak my truth in public and expressing myself in the ways I knew how, which led to getting a first-hand experience with how institutionalized patriarchy will lash out when you challenge it in any way.
This reflected a microcosm of our society where when a woman shares her opinion and disagrees with the status quo there is retributive action taken against her. Even if I want to crawl into a hole and make a new home in there reading some of my writing it doesn’t change the fact that I was treated unjustly, and it doesn’t absolve the people in power for the way they handled the situation.
The essay caused a stir in our little, concentrated climbing community and whispers about what I wrote permeated the gym from the bouldering walls to behind the front desk. The fact that this essay was “controversial” makes me wince with embarrassment for myself and everyone involved. Ceccaci, and Josh Haynes, the head route setter and assistant manager at the time, asked me to meet with them to discuss the article. Surrounded by weights and stationary bikes, we sat on big, blue exercise balls, in the studio with the door closed – a condescending and isolating strategy to attempt to diffuse and minimize the situation. It was a coy setup to distract from the fact that it was two of my cis men higher-ups in opposition to me, a cis woman in part-time employment without support.
Although I was encouraged to feel comfortable and candid, like I could speak openly, like it was a safe space, and although I was asked to divulge my feelings and thoughts about what had happened, I unequivocally felt uncomfortable, unsafe, intimidated, and interrogated. I was expected to listen to my boss tell me that he took it personally, that he had lost sleep, that his feelings were hurt, that my expression of my truth personally offended him. Ceccaci positioned himself as the victim. I didn’t know this at the time, but he was engaging in classic DARVO tactics.
Not only was I ostracized by fellow co-workers who thought I was taking feminism “too far,” but my performance on the job was scrutinized. Despite years of experience as an accomplished and competent climber, management withheld higher-paying opportunities from me like teaching advanced classes under the guise that my performance needed to improve at the front desk first. It became clear that this was punishment for what I wrote.
In the months following the initial publishing of the essay I was met with everything from loud congratulations, slaps on the back, and thanks from the community, as well as a shift in the energy around some of the people I worked with behind the front desk. There was an air of discomfort, of eggshells, of shifty eyes, or avoidance altogether. I was also met with open admonishment. For a while, they paused “Beta Babes” entirely. A year later, I was excluded from conversations amongst the men in management behind the scenes who discussed changing the title and ultimately voted on “Women Climb Night,” – the name that I had chosen in the first place, second of course, to “Beta Bitches.”
Though I was allowed to attend “Women Climb Night,” I wasn’t allowed to table for, or promote, Terra Incognita Media and reach my community. When I did attend “Women Climb Night,” stickers and all, I placed them on the sign-in table only to have a former co-worker rush up in a fluster to tell me that those stickers with the Terra logo can’t be displayed. After months of this treatment, I was eventually pushed out and Ceccaci gave me the option to quit or be fired. Put another way, Ceccaci offered to allow me to walk off the cliff myself or he could shove me. How generous!
The backlash I experienced taught me something important: If I, as an upper-middle class, cis, white woman, was pushing against instilled, oppressive norms and being met with my manager’s red-in-the-face rage, and being silenced, demonized, and gaslit by them and other Planet Granite management at the time (many of whom are still working in Movement management today), what did that mean for women, trans, and non-binary folks who held more marginalized identities than me? I wondered, if I didn’t feel comfortable, safe, heard, or seen in this environment they called the “PG Vibe,” how could someone who holds less power?
“Core Values” and DEI Get in the Way of the Business Plan and Budget
It’s not a coincidence that there are mostly cis, white men in positions of power in climbing gyms, and it’s not a coincidence that the climbing industry as a whole is dominated by white people. With the wide rollback of DEI initiatives across all industries, including climbing and the outdoors, we’re starting to see that the big promises corporations made in 2020 in the wake of the Black Lives Matter uprisings were nothing but theatrics.
Nothing about Movement’s actions in the recent months surprises any of us who’ve been advocating for equitable and safe(r) spaces in the outdoor industry because corporations will only ever prioritize their profit over people. Movement has stated that gutting these programs at their Chicago locations was a “business decision.” Therefore, being accountable to their “Core Values” isn’t in Movement’s business plan or budget.
Not only should we be furious about what this present moment reveals about Movement’s business practices (that they’re corrupt and unethical, which was already obvious to many), but we should also be looking at climbing gyms as a whole and interrogating their exploitative structure in their entirety.
Ironically, in a marketing video for Movement, Stephanie Ko, Executive Vice President of Operations at Movement, states, “Without integrity we wouldn’t be the company we are today, and we wouldn’t be the company that we want to be in the future.” Amidst cheerful B roll shots of Ko and other Movement higher ups like Robert Cohen, Movement’s former CEO, and Renee DeAngelis, who I mentioned earlier, the group is shown talking enthusiastically in climber casual attire complete with their shoes off to signal that they’re just like your average gym rat or climbing gym employee, except the only teensy, tiny, small, insignificant difference is that they all have a steady six-figure salary, flexible time off, 401k, and health insurance benefits.
Ko even goes so far as to say, “We encourage our team members to seek each other out, and open lines of communication, and to seek answers from each other and other departments.” Movement’s website claims to cherish and value community, DEI, and bringing your authentic self to the gym, but Movement’s history of exploitation tells a different story. It’s clear Movement leadership isn’t concerned with prioritizing the health and wellbeing of either Movement employees or members. The frilly words used in their marketing are ultimately performative, and what’s transpiring at Movement Chicago isn’t an isolated or novel event.
The First Unionized Climbing Gym in the U.S.
Fifteen workers at Movement Crystal City in Arlington, Virginia came together under the name Movement for Equal Footing to sign and send a Notice of Intent to Organize to Robert Cohen, the former CEO of El Cap, Movement’s parent company on June 29, 2021. The group shared on Instagram that, “The company’s response was immediate and not in favor of unionizing. Shortly after, two company VPs and the assistant director of the gym scheduled individual meetings with each organizer. These meetings, known by union organizers as Captive Audience meetings, are a common tactic to dissuade workers from continuing with union efforts. But we were not dissuaded.”
It was Ko, mentioned earlier, who claims to be a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Consultant on LinkedIn, and James Weathers, the VP of Operations (who can also be found in the marketing video mentioned above), who sent an email in response to the group expressing their disapproval on behalf of the company. According to Climbing Business Journal, they “scheduled individual captive audience meetings with seven of the organizers. Throughout the campaign, representatives of El Cap repeatedly made clear that they were opposed to unionizing and, in mandatory all-staff and one-on-one meetings, encouraged employees to ‘vote no’ in a union election.” These actions go against everything that Movement claims to support and value.
Of course Movement leadership doesn’t want its minimum-wage employees to organize because then that would lead to really unreasonable things like better working conditions, higher wages, and even more scary stuff like workers gaining a voice in decision-making processes that impact the business and community. For example, they might voice that firing a bunch of people unexpectedly, without warning or cause, is morally wrong and overall, harmful to the employees and community. All of this would threaten upper management’s ability to continue hoarding their wealth – the most tragic tale of our times.
Since the early 1980s, union membership has dropped to 10.8%, which is half the rate it was in 1983. But this drop isn’t due to a lack of desire among workers or for their lack of trying. In fact, a 2018 M.I.T. study found that “...46 percent of nonunion workers say they would like to be in a union…”
So, why aren’t more people forming unions if the desire is there? For those unfamiliar with the process of unionizing it can often be an unnecessarily long, challenging, and painful journey due to the hostile and manipulative strategies that corporations will employ in order to discourage any whiff of worker solidarity. Corporations hold an incredible amount of control and power over their employees, and have shown time and time again not to hesitate when it comes to putting pressure on their workers when they want to advocate for better working conditions.
To an outsider, the process to unionize would seem simple enough: workers come together because they want better and fair treatment at work, they hold a vote, and the results determine whether or not they unionize. It could even be more simple than that because according to a report by Dr. Gordon Later (2005), “Under federal law, an employer may recognize a union on the basis of any showing of majority support, including signed statements from employees…” So, technically, any workplace could become a union just by a majority of the workers coming together in agreement to unionize. Easy peasy!
But we don’t live in that world. We live in an ongoing episode of Black Mirror, and “...an employer is not required to recognize a union unless it has been chosen through a secret ballot vote supervised by the Board. Thus, many unions are formed through such procedures,” (Lafer, 2005).
In reality, this process for unionizing is anything but democratic because of the power that corporations proactively and gleefully wield. Often companies will enlist the help of “...anti-union lawyers specializing in ‘preventive labor relations’ [who] often recommend that anti-union communications begin with new employee orientations to forestall any thought of organizing,” (Lafer, 2005). A brazen example of this can be found in this leaked Amazon training video that is full of blatant anti-union scripts and propaganda. In this video, the cartoon Amazon manager instructs new employees to be on the lookout for “warning signs” of potential organizing and gives examples such as hearing the words, “living wage,” “steward,” or hearing an employee raise concerns on behalf of others. A capitalist’s nightmare!
Movement’s Shameless Union-Busting Tactics
Creating a union can be a complicated and arduous task because in almost all cases corporations don’t want the scales of power to shift in the least, so they’ll engage in what’s called union-busting. Union-busting, which has an entire $340 million industry to back it up, can look like posting anti-union flyers, banners, and signs all over the workplace, sending mass texts, outright threatening to fire workers for union activity, threatening to cut hours or eliminating shifts altogether, surveilling employees, and interrogating them on their union stance. It can also take the shape of softer, less overt strategies like promises and bribes in the form of raises and benefits, but this is not as common because “...employers are willing and able to risk being more ruthless in their treatment of workers because they face fewer regulatory, economic, and social repercussions for doing so,” (Luce and Bronfenbrenner 2007; Bronfenbrenner 2000).
These strategies of intimidation are all pretty standard procedure for corporations like Movement facing union campaigns. The most popular strategy for discouraging union activity is hosting “union trainings” under the guise of being an information session about unions when it’s really all about fear-mongering and convincing employees why unions are “bad.” Despite the fact that “...evidence shows that unions played a major role in reducing income inequality in the United States in the decades when organized labor was strong,” according to Susan Dynarski in an article for the New York Times, corporations outright lie to employees using tired anti-union scripts from the Union Busting Playbook. They’ll spread mis or disinformation like, “union dues are expensive,” and “you won’t ever be able to speak directly to your manager.”
The truth corporations and owners don’t want you to know is that, “The decades following World War II, when unskilled workers formed the union movement’s backbone, marked the most rapid decreases in income inequality. Wages for nonwhite workers were particularly strong then…Union workers now earn about 20 percent more than nonunion workers in similar jobs,” reported Dynarski. The strengthening of unions would mean the chasm between rich and poor would narrow. According to Dynarski, “Incomes in the United States are now as unequal as they were in the 1920s.”
To deter employees from organizing, management will harangue workers with mandatory one-on-one and all-staff meetings, also known as “Captive Audience” meetings. “Nearly 90% of employers use captive audience meetings, holding on average 10.4 meetings a year. Seventy-seven percent hold supervisory one-on-ones, and two-thirds hold them at least weekly throughout the campaign,” according to a report by Kate Bronfenbrenner, the director of Labor Education Research at Cornell University.
Movement for Equal Footing, who successfully became the first climbing gym union in the U.S. in early 2022, reported on Instagram that they “...had deja vu when we heard the union busting podcast created by REI’s CEO and chief diversity and impact officer. In captive audience meetings in the summer and fall, Movement's DEI committee leaders told us the exact same things – that they supported unions (just not at Movement), that it would hinder leadership's ability to directly support us and resolve concerns, that a union was a third party, and that they couldn't believe we felt that Movement leadership wasn't supporting us; that we were ruining the family vibe. The meetings left a bad taste in our mouths, but we were more committed than ever to raising our employee voice.”
Movement’s employees aren’t the only ones who’ve been subjected to these manipulative practices. Workers at VITAL Climbing Williamsburg in Brooklyn, New York have come together under the name Climbers United and shared how VITAL’s leadership was also utilizing “Captive Audience” meetings before they successfully became a union last summer on July 20, 2023.
Now, do any of these coercive and punitive measures sound free and fair? Not at all. But the horrific reality is that there are little to no consequences for corporations that seek to maintain the status quo through manipulation, interrogation, and intimidation. If you are looking to combat these anti-union strategies at your workplace this is a great training series to support you.
Movement’s Unfair Labor Practices and “Bad Faith” Bargaining
If you thought the horrors stopped after obtaining official union status from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), sadly, you would be wrong. Although there are now several climbing unions leading the way to inspire more folks to organize in the climbing industry, these innovators are now tasked with the all too often draining and drawn-out process of negotiating with their employers. Drafting a constitution, electing leaders, and forming a bargaining committee takes time, and then once all of that is ready, the real work begins: reaching a collective bargaining agreement with management. Even though Movement for Equal Footing secured and celebrated their official union status, negotiating with Movement leadership has proved to be one long, drawn-out, uphill battle that continues to this day at the time of writing.
In “No Holds Barred: The Intensification of Employer Opposition to Organizing,” a study conducted by Kate Bronfenbrenner, Director of Labor Education Research at Cornell School of Industrial and Labor Relations, reported that, “Even for those who do win the election, 52% are still without a contract a year later, and 37% are still without a contract two years after an election.” Workers jump through all the hoops and overcome their employer’s Machiavellian song and dance, but Bronfenbrenner’s study shows that just under one-third still had no contract after three years. This is because “Employers continue to impede first contract achievement by committing unfair labour practices...employers can and do undermine bargaining,” according to a more recent study by John Kallas, Dongwoo Park, and Rachel Aleks.
Last year Movement for Equal Footing posted on Reddit, “Our climbing gym spent a year unionizing and we won our vote! But our managers are still fighting it.” Ultimately, the intentional stalling and delaying of the bargaining process is just another tried and true strategy for corporations who are loath to share power with their employees. In many cases employers will continue to target and retaliate against pro-union workers in the form of scrutinizing their performance, creating an even more hostile work environment, and finding ways to justify firing organizers.
Last Spring 2023, Movement Crystal City leadership fired Jeremy, an employee and beloved community member who was pivotal in the organizing efforts at the gym. “If you've come to Crystal City, odds are you've interacted with Jeremy. He's a pillar of our community and we are outraged by his retaliatory termination. We have filed Unfair Labor Practice charges,” wrote Movement for Equal Footing on Instagram. Brittany Leavitt, CEO of Brown Girls Climb, among many other climbers shared their solidarity in the comments writing, “I met Jeremy climbing at Crystal City...he has always been a joy and super helpful when [it] came to community support. Especially when Brown Girls Climbs hosted events/meetups. As a national partner this is super hard to hear...Union Busting is a low blow, sadly I am seeing it happening more and more among big companies in the outdoor industry…”
Four months later Movement for Equal Footing posted an update stating that, “With legal support from Movement for Equal Footing and Workers United, Jeremy and Movement reached a settlement. Jeremy has found employment elsewhere and is doing well.” It can be gleaned that this process was incredibly harmful to Jeremy’s wellbeing and all workers involved. While a settlement was reached, this is an example of how corporations are willing to take illegal actions because the consequences are, well, inconsequential. In the end, these conniving actions are worth it for them if it means weakening union efforts.
Movement’s egregious actions didn’t stop there. Movement leadership is currently conducting unfair labor practices in the form of bad faith bargaining and withholding raises against the employees of Crystal City, even though they have provided raises to workers elsewhere across the country. “We announced our campaign June 29, 2021, had our election in November 2021, were recommended for certification in April of 2022, and have been bargaining since July 2022. We want a fair contract,” wrote Movement for Equal Footing on Instagram.
Drawing out the bargaining process can also lead to decrease in momentum, which can have an emotional, physical, and spiritual impact on workers. According to this article by Celine McNicholas, Margaret Poydock, and John Schmitt, “...in many industries, especially those that typically have high turnover (Amazon warehouses and Starbucks stores, for example), a drop in morale and increase in turnover may be exactly the outcome management is seeking. High turnover means the employer can recruit new workers who did not participate in the successful organizing campaign.”
Although companies are supposed to engage the bargaining process in “good faith” there’s nothing legally binding a company to sign a contract in any certain amount of time, which means management can delay the process indefinitely in hopes of never reaching an agreement. This “...essentially leaves labor relations in the state they were in before the union organizing campaign…,” (McNicholas, Poydock, and Schmitt).
Solidarity with Workers and the Spirit on Unionizing Grows Despite Management Attempts to Sabotage Efforts
One way to change this indisputably unjust balance of power is to support the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act. “Union leaders say the Protecting the Right to Organize Act — PRO Act — would finally begin to level a playing field they say is unfairly tilted toward big business and management, making union organizing drives and elections unreasonably difficult,” writes Don Gonyea for NPR. But until this law is passed, it’s crucial that as a community we offer workers solidarity, support, encouragement, and resolve in the face of any corporate backlash, treachery, repression, or subversion.
Despite facing this onslaught of union busting from Movement management, workers are not deterred, but emboldened. The spirit of unionizing in the climbing industry seems to just be getting started as on October 23, 2023 workers at The Cliffs confirmed that they would be organizing under the name The Cliffs Climbing United (CCU). A month later, it was announced that Movement acquired The Cliffs, but CCU’s plans to organize didn’t change. On December 6, 2023 CCU celebrated becoming an official union. Now, like Movement for Equal Footing, CCU is tasked with maneuvering Movement leadership’s attempts to hijack and commandeer the bargaining process.
It’s a “laugh to keep from crying” situation when a corporation like Movement continues to raid an industry in the way that it has, gobbling up gym after gym, on top of currently building two new ones, all while giving lip service to “DEI,” and actively sabotaging their workers’ efforts to advocate for equitable treatment, fair, living wages, and better work conditions.
Many have wondered why Movement Chicago would do something so drastic as to suddenly cut their entire Fitness and Yoga programs and thereby layoff, without warning, their entire team of Fitness and Yoga instructors. Isn’t it bad for business to harm your employees and members, and therefore your reputation like this? In other words, isn’t it bad for business to be such callous assholes? The answer is not when private equity is involved.
Movement Climbing Gym Acquisition Timeline and Trajectory
The vultures began their descent in 2017 when Earth Treks Climbing and Fitness announced their partnership with Tengram Capital Partners, a private equity firm co-founded by Matt Enby. “Tengram invests in both traditional ‘growth’ and ‘restructuring/turnaround’ situations in either the public or private sectors. Current and former investments for Tengram include Earth Treks, DevaCurl, Algenist, Cos Bar, Zanella, This Works, Laura Geller, Active Ride Shop, NEST Fragrances, and Sequential Brands Group,” according to Tengram’s website. Later that same year, Earth Treks and Planet Granite merged, catalyzing the largest climbing gym network in the U.S.
In 2018, Earth Treks and Planet Granite evolved their brand strategy and formed a “parent” company called El Cap Holdings, LLC. One year later in 2019, Movement Climbing and Fitness, founded by Anne-Worley and Mike Moelter, was added to the El Cap roster.
In 2020, when the pandemic hit, the gyms asked members to continue paying their membership fees despite halting paychecks for employees. When the gyms re-opened members who stayed true to their memberships were rewarded with a single 75 ml tube of Secret Stuff liquid chalk from Friction Labs that retails at $19. Cue Ben Stiller in Zoolander, “What is this, a gesture of gratitude for ants?” I personally don’t want to hear any excuses. The tube should’ve been at least three times bigger.
At the end of 2021, in yet another strategic marketing move, the gyms united under one cohesive brand name, Movement, enlisting the help of Wildstory, a story brand and content shop, to ensure that their branding was cohesive in order to “...continue to grow, innovate, and meet their financial goals without losing their soul,” wrote Wildstory on their blog. However, it’s impossible to lose your soul if you never had one to begin with. Unfortunately, for Movement, like many other climbing gyms, no amount of money you throw at a glossy brand strategy can fix the fact that your company is home to one of the largest breeding grounds of toxic masculinity and white supremacy culture.
Due to movies like “Free Solo” and “The Dawn Wall,” as well as climbing being recognized as an Olympic sport, climbing is quickly becoming a more mainstream form of exercise. The widespread, growing popularity has signaled the promise of record-setting growth. Drooling over the potential, private equity started funneling millions into expansion and consolidation. Brooklyn Boulders was the first climbing gym to partner with private equity back in 2015 to the tune of $48.75 million.
Despite all of the marketing and floofy words Planet Granite’s, Earth Treks’, and Movement’s founders use, the real reason for partnering with private equity was never to “...affect positive change in the climbing industry,” as Anne Worley-Moulter claimed in an email to Movement members. Because just a year later, Robert Cohen, former CEO of El Cap, admitted to the Colorado Sun that, “The decision to buy Movement from Mike and Anne-Worley Moelter was based on simple geography…The company, which the Moelters started in 2009 in Boulder, had gyms in locations where El Cap wanted to be: right in the middle of Denver and Boulder.” The private equity translation of this is that a business that is well-situated geographically leads to more profit. I guess signing the Outdoor CEO Diversity Pledge was just good PR for Cohen.
What the Hell is Private Equity?
Referred to as “The Smash and Grab Economy” by Mother Jones, a “Metastasizing Disease” by Emily Steward and Jim Baker, and “Termite Capitalism” by Sheila Smith, private equity is gutting America. The “corporate raiders” behind these operations are the real looters in our late-stage capitalist society taking out loans of large sums of money, utilizing what used to be called “leveraged buyouts” to buy and acquire companies, and then saddling them with debt in order to turn a profit. Even Taylor Swift our head #girlboss, has criticized private equity as a whole, calling it a "potentially harmful force [to] the music industry [that is] buying up our music as if it is real estate, as if it is an app or a shoe-line."
Private equity can be a vague and fuzzy concept, so much so that as a non-finance nerd, I had to do a lot of digging to fully understand how it works. In an interview for Vox, Emily Steward explains it like this:
“...when people are talking about Private Equity what they’re really talking about is ‘leveraged buyouts,’ which is basically, I’m a private equity firm, I buy a company. Let’s say I buy Toys ‘R Us, but instead of buying %100 of Toys ‘R Us, I kick in %30 of the money and then the other %70 I basically acquire through loading up Toys ‘R Us with debt. So, then it’s Toys ‘R Us that owes that money back to creditors. I just owe %30. So, then what kind of ends up happening is these companies have so much debt that they need to pay back that they can’t invest in their business anymore.”
Private equity firms like Tengram, which houses El Cap, “...buy companies that are struggling or have growth potential and then try to repackage them, speed up their growth, and — theoretically — make them work better. Then, they sell them to another firm, take them public, or find some other way to offload them,” reports Steward. These business decisions rarely, if ever, benefit the customers and employees because, according to Steward, private equity’s No. 1 priority is to make money fast. The long-term health of the companies isn’t the central focus.
In August 2022, Jeremy Levitt succeeded Robert Cohen as CEO of movement. In addition to Tengram Capital Partners, there is investment from Seawall, LLC, another private equity firm founded and managed by Matt Enby, who’s also the chairperson of Movement’s board. Seawall’s criteria for investment are as follows: revenues greater than $20m, profitable or clear path to profitability, target investment size of $25m to $100m.
With this information we can start to put the pieces together as to why Movement Chicago decided to suddenly cut its Fitness and Yoga programs along with laying off its 20+ instructors. It wasn’t due to “underperformance” – unless we interpret this to mean that the money they were making off these classes were underperforming solely in terms of ROI. These programs, despite their immense popularity with members of the gym, weren’t bringing in enough revenue for Movement since their priority is to pay their debt to Tengram.
“Private equity’s objective, in theory, is that the company will earn enough and grow fast enough to pay down the debt to a healthy amount. But a lot of that time, that’s not what happens,” reveals Steward. Despite what the finance bros in the private equity industry want you to believe, the statistics aren’t looking good. “Healthy companies acquired by private equity firms through leveraged buyouts see their probability of defaulting on loans increase ten-fold, new research shows. According to researchers at California Polytechnic State University, roughly 20 percent of large companies acquired through leveraged buyouts go bankrupt within ten years, as compared to a control group’s bankruptcy rate of 2 percent during the same time period,” writes Alicia McElhaney.
According to this study out of the University of Chicago, “employment shrinks by 4.4 percent two years after companies are bought by private equity, and worker wages fall by 1.7 percent.” If a company fails to meet its revenue goals, the private equity firm and those at the top still make their money. They get to wash their hands clean and leave with their spoils. The collateral damage of private equity are the employees, who are the reason why a company makes a profit at all. This is why Chi Movement Solidarity’s petition is so crucial to support, and even more so, unions.
Reddit Delivers Unfettered Transparency
If you want to read some real reviews and get perspective about what goes on behind-the-scenes at Movement, or any climbing gym for that matter, visit Reddit. The unabashed anonymous forum is full of echoing sentiments about how Movement as a company is only concerned about their bottom line. Gary Richard Innocenti wrote, “Movement has never respected the people that make that place special. They exploit staff and members every chance they get and won't stop until they have a complete overhaul of the company. I am doubtful it will ever happen, but I will continue to tell the truth about this company to every climber I meet. When I tell the truth about this place, at this point I'm met with horror stories from them as well. Seems the whole community already knows the monster that movement is.”
“I know a lot of movement employees who complain about how they are underpaid and understaffed. This while they continuously expand and raise membership rates. Mid level managers leave, the company won’t pay enough to replace them. Chaos ensues.” expressed a Reddit commenter.
Or, you can read the reasons as to why people signed Chi Movement Solidarity’s petition. Here are just a few examples of feedback from folks who signed:
Adam Block from Boulder, Colorado wrote, “Former gym employee, anti union busting practices. Never rejoining.”
“Movement is an evil corporation with no accountability,” expressed Brittany Wenzelman.
Dana White laments, “I cannot in good conscience return to membership at Movement if there is no real action on Movement corporate leadership’s part to remedy the harm their actions have caused. Lip service and bringing back classes in March with no effort to partner with instructors and the community is simply not enough.”
The Sea Change Has Just Begun
“...As we’ve been running this campaign, all of these people have been sending us messages like, ‘Oh, this happened at this gym. Here are some things that they covered up at our own gym,’ and that sort of thing,” Amy King reflects. “All of these awful things just coming out of the woodwork. And I’m like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe we’ve been putting up with all of this.”
The chickens are coming home to roost for the climbing industry’s biggest investors. The people are ready to unite in solidarity for the long-haul because we know this is a marathon, not a sprint. Even if the Chi Movement Solidarity petition that was pain-stakingly drafted by King and the greater Chicago climbing community “fails” it won’t. It can’t. It has already succeeded. The spark of labor advocacy and fighting for equitable workplaces rooted in justice and true community has been lit and a wildfire has been spreading long before Movement’s soulless “business decision” was made.
At the end of 2023, El Cap acquired both Summit Gyms and The Cliffs Climbing Gyms. “Private equity may own Movement, but we are the lifeblood of the company. We transform gyms into joyful communities. As the climbing industry has grown, we have been left behind. It’s time for a new movement,” wrote Movement for Equal Footing on Instagram.
We are in a moment of reckoning in our society and the old guard is not going to cut it anymore. We as a people are tasked with coming together to stand up to these corporate titans and fight for our labor and human rights. This enraging situation is not unique to Movement Chicago, and it’s not even unique to the climbing industry.
Climbing gyms are really good at marketing themselves as “communities,” but I have yet to come across a gym that truly operates like one. The majority of climbing gyms are run and dominated by cis, white men who create and maintain a culture of toxic masculinity. The climbing "community" cultivated inside gyms is rooted in individualism and surface level connections where everyone is conditioned to relate transactionally. The priority is social capital instead of true community. This is because these spaces are, for the most part, created and dominated by cis, white men motivated by profit above anything else, who feel deeply insecure and lonely, but fail to connect this general dejection with the white, cisheteropatriarchy in which they’ve aligned themselves and maintain.
Inside a society that prioritizes profit over people none of us are safe and secure. The Earth and the people of the global majority have been telling us that imperialist-white supremacist-capitalist-patriarchy, as bell hooks called it, isn’t working and never has been in our favor. May we continue peeling back the layers of the rotting underbelly of capitalism and mobilize. May we be obstructions in the path of private equity and other bottom feeders of our society, so that we can be generative, problem solving, justice-oriented, and truly work toward communal, sustainable futures.
I stand with those who resist the powers that be, that put themselves on the line, who speak their truth, and demand accountability no matter the consequences. I not only stand with Chi Movement Solidarity’s campaign, but all workers across Movement’s gyms, and all workers within and beyond the climbing industry because everyone no matter their job, class, rank, or status deserves dignity, a thriving wage, and healthcare. We’re in the midst of a long overdue reckoning in this late-stage capitalist society, and the wave of unionizing in the climbing industry contributing to this sea change has just begun.
REMINDER: SIGN THE CHI MOVEMENT SOLIDARITY PETITION AND SPREAD THE WORD!
