Hey Everyone,

I hope this update finds you well. There’s been a lot of hardship this month and the state of things is weighing heavily on people’s shoulders. With the fires in Los Angeles and the new administration beginning their new term, I know the future seems pretty grim. 

In regards to this petition and our movement for living wages, it also has been a little disheartening. At this point Touchstone has had two separate meetings with Touchstone Workers United in 2025 and as with all the meetings since starting bargaining 7 months ago, Touchstone has made it incredibly difficult and slow. As of now there are only two tentative agreements and an unfair labor practice filed against them for not responding to requests for information. If you don’t know, only 2 tentative agreements for a whole contract, in 7 months of bargaining is horrible. Touchstone is also no longer responding to emails about this petition and all requests from Gym Managers to support their staff have gone unanswered.

Currently several Touchstone employees have attempted to advocate for themselves and request higher wages, but as is the case when you do not have collective bargaining, you have winners and losers. Some employees have thankfully received higher wages and have been able to leverage this current movement, but Touchstone has also responded coldly to other requests for fair wage and treatment, pitting staff against each other, forcing them to choose sides.  There are several long time employees at this point resigning, taking on positions with other climbing companies, or silently going along to get along despite wanting to organize and advocate for themselves and their team.

Touchstone is also starting to force meet ups and affinity groups to agree to not take part in company politics ie organizing in support or solidarity with the staff/union, reaching out to management, or engaging in any kind of collective action or protest. This is why Touchstone is also trying to frame Unionizing as a SoCal issue and convince themselves that the Bay Area doesn’t want to Unionize. They are both manipulative tactics geared at sowing division and dissent in an otherwise unified movement.  Even though this is frustrating, it does tell us that Touchstone recognizes the power to organize staff, members, and affinity groups in order to affect change.

As you know Touchstone increased membership dues and they are currently moving forward with their plans to open their Redwood City location and their next San Francisco location. At this point I can no longer in good conscience tell people to refrain from resigning, canceling their memberships, boycotting, or any other action they deem worthy of advocating for themselves and others in this community. I myself am struggling to find reasons to stay with Touchstone aside from wanting to coordinate collective action with the Union. It has been suggested that it is better to wait for collective action than to leave individually with scattered anger, but I know many people have been struggling to justify staying after so many acts of indifference on Touchstone’s part. I would encourage those that are willing and able to maintain their membership to do so until we organize a collective action/boycott. I do understand that enough will be enough for some and it is my hope that if you resign or cancel your membership to do so consciously and let Touchstone know exactly why you are no longer willing to support their company.

In closing, as we move forward and head into 2025, it is incumbent upon each of us to reflect on what actions we can and are willing to take to stand up for ourselves and our community. There is a real concern about companies, organizations, and governments that seek to disempower and disenfranchise already vulnerable populations; through intimidation, through coercion, through threats of retaliation. I hope that we can come together and show the unified strength and resiliency of a collective voice. I will send out more updates soon. Please reach out to us and let us know what you are willing to do to stand up for the rights of Touchstone Workers, Members, and Affinity Groups.  We will be looking for volunteers and people that are interested in being more involved in this movement as we move towards the action phase of negotiations. As always, please continue to share this petition and continue to talk and spread awareness of this issue.

With Gratitude and in Solidarity,

Morgan McGehee

IG: @touchstoneworkersunited

IG: @touchstoneclimbingmembers

Morgan McGehee:

TouchstoneMembersUnited@gmail.com