[A threatened strike at 56 Costco stores across six states has been averted for now, as the company and negotiators for the Teamsters union, representing 18,000 workers, reached an 11th hour tentative agreement. The union had demands regarding wages and benefits, seniority pay, paid family leave, bereavement policies, sick time, and safeguards against surveillance. The agreement does not completely end the threat of a strike, as it still needs to be ratified by rank-and-file members of the union at Costco.
The Teamsters members at Costco make up 8% of its 219,000 employees at 616 US stores, and a strike by that many workers would have been significant for the largely non-union sector of the economy. The union had planned to set up picket lines at an undisclosed number of non-union Costco stores nationwide, even if workers at those stores remained on the job.
Costco has a reputation for providing relatively good pay and benefits, especially compared to other retail chains. The company recently sent a letter out to all employees at non-union stores announcing it was raising pay by a dollar an hour, to $30.20 this year and another dollar an hour each of the next two years. Starting pay would be raised by 50 cents an hour to $20.
The Teamsters have pointed to Costco’s strong financial results as an argument for an improved wage and benefits package. Costco reported record annual net income in the most recent fiscal year of $7.4 billion, up 17% from a year earlier and nearly double what it earned in 2019 ahead of the Covid-19 pandemic. The union has been pushing for a better contract, with banners reading “Pro worker? Prove it!” and “Record profits = record contract” at a recent union rally held outside Costco’s annual meeting.
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