WE ARE BOYCOTTING TOUCHSTONE!!!
Hello everyone,
The time has come. Members of Touchstone Climbing and Fitness and members of the larger climbing community are BOYCOTTING Touchstone. Effective immediately we are canceling our memberships and taking our passion and our business elsewhere.
After months of attempted communication and negotiations, Touchstone continued to increase our membership rates and continued moving forward with their new gyms while shutting down all terms from the So Cal Union and not making any counter offers for over 7 months. On top of stone walling and stalling negotiations in So Cal, they are also making concerted efforts to prevent the Unionizing of Nor Cal gyms by hosting illegal Captive Audience meetings, which bring in anti-union presenters to convince staff members not to unionize. Touchstone has also made new contracts for Affinity Groups to not involve themselves in company politics ie workers rights, union support, or speaking out against Touchstone’s deplorable practices.
Enough is enough. WE ARE BOYCOTTING and we’re asking all people willing and able to cancel their membership, stop hosting meet ups and affinity groups in their gyms, unenroll their kids from Team and Camps, and no longer purchase day passes or gear. We are not going to support Touchstone any longer, in anyway, until they negotiate a fair contract with the So Cal Union and give all their employees a fair wage.
Tell your friends and family. Share this petition with everyone you can and help spread awareness of this important issue in our community. Most importantly take action!
The requests of staff members, gym members, the climbing community at large, have fallen on deaf ears. We gave them time to make changes and take action, but they want to continue exploitative business as usual.
Aside from canceling your memberships and boycotting Touchstone completely, we are also asking people to go on Google, Yelp, and any other review site and give one star reviews for their labor practices. Refuse to take them down until a fair contract is reached.
Contact Chief Executive and Founder, Mark Melvin, and tell him why you are canceling your membership and how important it is to have fair labor practices at Touchstone.
mmelvin@touchstoneclimbing.com
Contact gym managers, Touchstone Athletes, Affinity Groups, and climbing companies and partners that do business with Touchstone and let them know that you support Touchstone workers and urge them to stand in solidarity with the boycott.
Organize and protest! Get your friends together and go outside their gyms, their open houses, their competitions and let the people who are crossing that threshold, into their facilities, know they are walking into an exploitive, anti-union business.
Lastly, stay engaged. Follow us on Instagram, follow Touchstone Workers United, share this petition, and let your voice be heard through posts, reposts, and collective action. Together we can help protect the rights of workers at Touchstone, now and for years to come.
Join the movement!
In Solidarity,
Morgan McGehee
Instagram: @touchstoneclimbingmembers
Instagram: @touchstoneworkersunited