Union Says Deal Averts Costco Strike

Teamsters members from warehouse giant had voted to OK strike unless there was agreement on a 'fair contract'
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 21, 2025 6:01 AM CST
Updated Feb 1, 2025 2:30 PM CST
At Costco, a Teamsters Strike Brews
A Costco warehouse is seen on July 16 in Sheridan, Colorado.   (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)
UPDATE Feb 1, 2025 2:30 PM CST

The Teamsters said Saturday a tentative agreement on a new contract has headed off a strike against Costco. The deal needs approval of union members before taking effect, the AP reports. The terms weren't released, but Costco had raised top pay for most of its nonunion US employees to $30.20 an hour before the Friday night strike deadline, per the Washington Post. Those workers will receive another $1 raise annually for the next two years, while employees on the low end will have their pay go up 50 cents per hour, to $20. By comparison, Walmart pay averages $17.50 an hour and Amazon warehouses $22. The union represents 18,000 Costco workers in six states.

Jan 21, 2025 6:01 AM CST

Negotiations ahead of a Jan. 31 deadline are in full swing, but Costco Teamsters members voted on Sunday to head toward a strike. Reuters reports that 85% of the union's 18,000-plus members cast an "aye" vote to OK a strike—"a direct result of the company's continued failure to bargain constructively," the Teamsters wrote in a statement. The union also noted Costco's "refusal to present a fair contract offer that reflects the company's record-breaking profits."

Those profits, as reported by the warehouse giant at the end of September, per ABC News: around $250 billion in annual revenue and $7.4 billion in profits—a 135% increase from 2018. The Teamsters didn't note exactly what benefits or wage requests the union is seeking for its members. "We're demanding the best wages and benefits in the industry," a union rep told CBS News in an email. "As of this writing the company hasn't responded with a meaningful counter."

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To prepare last week for the strike, hundreds of Costco Teamsters from coast to coast carried out practice pickets. "Our members have spoken loud and clear—Costco must deliver a fair contract, or they'll be held accountable," says Teamsters General President Sean M. O'Brien, per the union statement. "From day one, we've told Costco that our members won't work a day past January 31 without a historic, industry-leading agreement. Costco's greedy executives have less than two weeks to do the right thing." He added: "If they refuse, they'll have no one to blame but themselves." (More Costco stories.)

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