BK Gym Laid Off Workers Organizing Against Discrimination: Staff

BROOKLYN, NY — A group of former Brooklyn Boulders employees claims the fitness company laid off all its New York City employees for organizing around a petition calling for an end to discrimination at the company.

The group, BKB Collective, filed an Unfair Labor Practice charge Tuesday against the company after employees experiences with racism came to light, said BKB spokesperson Claire Waggoner.

The issues with the company, which has gyms in Brooklyn and Queens, first arose when Brooklyn Boulders shared "Black Lives Matter" posts on its instagram that some say were racist, Waggoner said.

One post read, "It's hard to climb with a knee on your neck," and another read, "It's hard to train when you can't breathe." Both were accompanied by the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag.

The company removed the post and shared an apology, but archived versions of the posts remain active in the company's own accountability dashboard.

And, despite the apology, Waggoner said employees have accused the company of other instances of racism.

Brooklyn Boulders have used non-disclosure agreements to "bully and silence individuals who have either left the company or been forces out, and prevent them from speaking to the racism and abuse that they either experienced or witnessed while on the job," according to the petition. The petition calls for an end to the NDAs.

Employees also "hadn't heard anything from BKB about what they were doing in light of the [Black Lives Matter] movement to support Black employees," Waggoner said, so they decided to start organizing.

BKB Collective delivered the petition on June 16 and shared it publicly two days after.

The petition has 90 signatures from former employees. After it was delivered, meetings were held with employees on June 25 and July 1 to discuss the petition.

One day before discussions began, Waggoner said, the company's CEO, Jeremy Balboni, stepped back via a company-wide email. She said he's still on the company's board of directors.

Then, after the July 1 meeting, "every single NYC employee except the general manager of each facility" was laid off, she said. The company also laid off its BKBX employees in Boston and at an unopened facility in Williamsburg.

Brooklyn Boulders employees had been on furlough since March amid the pandemic. The release stated employees were told they would be able to return to work when gyms reopened.

“Despite Brooklyn Boulders’ attempt to silence the BKB Collective by laying off all of its NYC-based staff, we have taken the next appropriate step to continue our work fighting for change at BKB," the collective wrote in an open letter. "We believe that Brooklyn Boulders’ recent mass layoffs were retaliatory and were an effort to silence a group of workers and prevent ongoing concerted organizing."

The release said that if BKB Collective wins its unfair labor practices case, employees hope to return to furlough status and later to work.

"As a collective, we see the ULP as a step to put us back on track and back at the table, so we can resume negotiations with Brooklyn Boulders leadership," the open letter reads. "If we win the case, we will have the opportunity to be put back on a furlough list and move forward with demanding more accountability from the leadership team. Brooklyn Boulders will be held accountable for violating national labor law and held responsible for providing a safe and welcoming environment for Black staff and climbers.”

Brooklyn Boulders responded to each item on the BKB Collective petition through its accountability dashboard, but the cohort rejected several of its responses.

BKB Collective is now asking the public to sign the petition calling for substantial changes to management and an end to at-will employment. As of Wednesday afternoon the petition had 1,032 responses.

Brooklyn Boulders did not immediately respond to a request for comment.