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🗞️ Chalk Up the Vote: NLRB Orders Separate Union Elections for Touchstone Climbing

An NLRB regional director rejected Touchstone Climbing's bid to force a company-wide ballot, ordering separate elections for its Bay Area maintenance and routesetting employees on February 25, 2026.

onthelaborfront

onthelaborfront

— 4 min read
🗞️ Chalk Up the Vote: NLRB Orders Separate Union Elections for Touchstone Climbing

California rock-climbing gym operator Touchstone Climbing is heading to the polls — twice — after an NLRB Region 32 Regional Director ruled in February 2026 that two distinct groups of Bay Area employees may organize in separate bargaining units. The decision, issued by Regional Director Christy J. Kwon on February 17, 2026, directed simultaneous secret-ballot elections for maintenance employees and routesetters across nine of the company's Bay Area facilities, with voting scheduled for February 25, 2026.

The case was brought by Western States Regional Joint Board, Workers United — an SEIU affiliate that has led an ongoing organizing campaign at Touchstone since late 2023. The union filed two separate petitions in December 2025: one seeking to represent four maintenance workers (Case 32-RC-377918) and another seeking to represent 21 routesetters (Case 32-RC-377926). Touchstone, represented by law firm Ogletree Deakins, countered that neither unit was appropriate and that any election would have to include a much broader wall-to-wall unit of all Bay Area hourly staff — front desk workers, coaches, instructors, belay staff, safety staff, and others.

The Regional Director rejected that argument, applying the two-step analytical framework from American Steel Construction, Inc., 372 NLRB No. 23 (2022). That 2022 decision restored the Specialty Healthcare standard first established in 2011, which places the burden on the party opposing a petitioned-for unit to demonstrate that excluded employees share an "overwhelming community of interest" with those in the proposed unit — a high threshold requiring that traditional community-of-interest factors "overlap almost completely." The standard had previously been replaced by the PCC Structurals (2017) framework, which gave the Board broader latitude to reject smaller units; American Steel reversed course, making it substantially easier for unions to secure elections in narrowly defined groups.

Applying that framework, the Regional Director found both petitioned-for groups to be readily identifiable and internally cohesive. The four maintenance employees operate as a centralized crew dispatched across all nine Bay Area locations, share a common supervisor, use the same tools, and perform interchangeable tasks in HVAC, structural repair, and refurbishment. The 21 routesetters — excluding those permanently assigned to The Studio location, which was already certified in September 2025 — constitute a distinct department under a unified chain of command, use specialized equipment, rotate across all Bay Area gyms, and perform the highly skilled function of removing and creating climbing routes.

Across seven community-of-interest factors — departmental organization, skills and training, job functions, contact, interchange, terms and conditions of employment, and functional integration — the Regional Director found that Touchstone failed to carry its burden. Five factors weighed against a finding of an overwhelming community of interest, and two were neutral. Wages alone illustrated the divergence: maintenance employees earned approximately $30 per hour, routesetters $28, front desk staff $22, safety staff $19, and instructors $20. Organizational reporting structures also differed sharply: routesetters and competitive coaches occupy the company-wide half of Touchstone's org chart under the Director of Creative and Business Development, while maintenance workers fall under a separate facility-specific structure reporting to the Director of Operations.

The decision is part of a wider organizing campaign that began with Southern California locations in early 2024 and has since expanded northward. Five Touchstone locations in Los Angeles won their elections in March 2024 under wall-to-wall units and have been in contract negotiations since September 2024, with multiple unfair labor practice charges filed against the company by union counsel. Four additional Bay Area gyms — including Mission Cliffs and Dogpatch Boulders in San Francisco — voted to unionize in September 2025. Unlike the wall-to-wall unit structure used in Southern California, the Bay Area maintenance and routesetter elections ordered in this decision involve narrower, occupation-specific units, a unit configuration consistent with the American Steel standard.

Either party may request Board review of the Regional Director's decision at any time through ten business days after final disposition of the proceeding. Filing a request for review does not automatically stay the election.

Key Points

  • NLRB Region 32 directed two separate elections for Touchstone Climbing's Bay Area maintenance employees (4 workers) and routesetters (21 workers), scheduled for February 25, 2026 at the Berkeley Training Center.
  • Petitioner: Western States Regional Joint Board, Workers United (SEIU affiliate); Employer counsel: Ogletree Deakins.
  • Controlling legal standard: American Steel Construction, Inc., 372 NLRB No. 23 (2022), which restored the Specialty Healthcare "overwhelming community of interest" burden on parties seeking to enlarge a petitioned-for unit.
  • Touchstone did not meet its burden across five of seven community-of-interest factors: departmental organization, skills and training, job duties, contact, and terms and conditions of employment; two factors (interchange and functional integration) were neutral.
  • Wages vary significantly across excluded classifications: from $19/hour (safety staff) to $34/hour (yoga instructors), reflecting varied rather than uniform employment conditions.
  • Routesetters at The Studio (San Jose) were excluded from the new unit, as they were already covered by a certification issued September 18, 2025 in Case 32-RC-369681.
  • Broader context: The organizing campaign at Touchstone is part of a national wave; Workers United estimates roughly 10% of U.S. climbing gym workers are now represented, with approximately 27 gyms organized between 2021 and late 2025.
  • Pending ULP charges: Five open unfair labor practice charges have been filed by union counsel against Touchstone on behalf of Southern California workers, including allegations of retaliation and unilateral changes to working conditions.

Primary Source Author: Christy J. Kwon, Regional Director, NLRB Region 32

Primary Source: Decision and Direction of Election, Touchstone Climbing, Inc., Cases 32-RC-377918 & 32-RC-377926 (Feb. 17, 2026)

Primary Source Link: https://apps.nlrb.gov/link/document.aspx/09031d45841ba985

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