Harlem climbing gym workers unite in North America’s first wall-to-wall strike

Workers at the Movement Harlem climbing gym held a one-day strike July 18 protesting unfair labor practices in what the Workers United union claimed was the first-ever wall-to-wall strike at a North American climbing gym.

Standing in pouring rain, the workers picketed outside the gym at 256 W. 125th St. in Manhattan on a day when Movement offered free access to its facilities nationwide. Managers kept the store open even though no rank-and-file workers staffed the gym.

Workers at the Harlem facility voted to unionize in summer 2025 and have been negotiating for around a year for their first contract. They’re seeking better pay, more consistent scheduling and better training and safety standards.

“Doing something bigger and bigger and bigger is going to show [Movement] that we’re not slowing down,” said Aliya Hunter, a union organizer and front desk worker at Movement Harlem. “We have the energy to keep on doing this and they really, really need to start taking it seriously.”

Workers hope their militancy spreads to other unionized climbing gyms in the city.

Max White/ The Chief

Representatives for movement did not respond to requests for comment.

'We're going to shut your gym down'

Molly Rosenshein, who’s worked at the Movement Harlem location for about two years, told The Chief she works multiple jobs as she isn’t consistently scheduled at Movement and doesn’t earn a livable wage.

She said she hopes fellow gyms see their strike and follow their lead in showing that it’s possible to unite workers for a cause, telling management, “If you don’t come negotiate with us, then we’re going to shut your gym down, because you don’t deserve to run a business if you’re not taking care of the people who are there every day working it.”

Rosenshein added that she wants to see her location’s safety standards improve, as she said new hires are required to teach introductory climbing courses even if the workers are inexperienced.

“I think that’s a huge problem, because [climbing is] a very dangerous sport,” she said. “You want to have qualified people teaching it.”

Workers picketing despite the pouring rain.

Max White/ The Chief

Collaboration with North Face

The workers also called on The North Face, which co-sponsored Movement’s free climbing day, to end its partnership with Movement due to the gym's pending federal unfair labor practice charges. Movement workers said the partnership undermines the commitment to worker rights from The North Face’s parent company, VF Corporation.

“The North Face should not be partnered with a union-busting fitness company like Movement,” said Ben Bennett, the deputy organizing director for Workers United and director of the union’s climbing organizing. He added that workers took action against 10 North Face stores nationwide earlier that week to protest the partnership.

Movement Harlem workers hope their negotiation process will be shorter than the fight at Movement Crystal City in Northern Virginia, which has gone without a contract for years after its workers began organizing in 2021. 

The Harlem location is among three in New York City fighting for a contract. Workers at the Movement Gowanus location in Brooklyn have been fighting for a contract for more than two years since unionizing. Movement workers in Long Island City are also unionized without a contract.

Workers United, a union representing thousands of workers across the U.S. and Canada in a range of industries from food service to fitness, has worked with Climbing Workers United to organize workers nationwide, including in Harlem. Hundreds of Starbucks locations have unionized in recent years with Workers United’s backing and the union said that “similar momentum is quickly building in the rapidly-expanding rock climbing gym industry.”

Movement Harlem workers educated passersby about the gym’s labor standards during the strike and worked to turn away potential climbers. Krishcal Pathak and his group of friends were about to enter the location for free climbing until the striking workers told them about how Movement treated its workers.

“I definitely think that Movement should be accounting for worker wages,” Pathak said after he decided not to climb at the gym. “Especially since they charge so much and their standard is so high.”