Costco bosses basked in praise for making union-friendly statements but have yet to commit to bargain in good faith.
Last December, a group of 238 Costco workers in Norfolk, Virginia, voted to unionize and join Teamsters Local 822. The local declared the vote “the union’s first organizing victory at the wholesale retailer in two decades.” The voices of the pro-union workers who won this contested election — the vote was 111-92 — were quickly overshadowed, however, by a letter from Costco’s leadership that garnered much attention beyond the shop floor.
Outgoing Chief Executive Officer Craig Jelinek and incoming CEO President Ron Vachris stated in a letter addressed to all Costco employees, that “we’re disappointed by the result” of the union election. But, they added, “We’re not disappointed in our employees; we’re disappointed in ourselves as managers and leaders.” In their view, the employees voted for a union because management failed to satisfy its “core value of ‘taking care of our employees.’”
For an HR letter, it went viral. Much praise was lavished onto Jelinek and Vachris for their “graceful” and “classy” response. CNN described the letter as “surprising” and in “stark contrast” to “other companies, such as Starbucks, [which] have pushed back hard against union organizing.” Others praised Costco’s “emotional intelligence” and ability to look “inward.”
During the early 1990s, Costco competed with Price Club, another retailer that already had unionized workers. When Costco merged with Price Club in 1993, many of the union warehouses (mostly located in California) remained union. In the early to mid-2000s, the Teamsters expanded the number of union warehouses with some successful campaigns in New Jersey, New York, Maryland and Virginia. But it was always a challenge.
I worked there for 2 years and honestly can’t understand the need to unionize. Pay was as good as it could get for work that didn’t require a degree. Benefits were good. They next to never hire externally for skilled or even anyone above cart pusher. Literally everyone starts out pushing carts before you can apply for corporate roles except for extremely technical positions and they’ve exhausted all internal options. Only thing that sucks is if you accidentally get stuck working the food court like I did. It’s very hard to escape that position since it’s not well regarded. I finally quit after 2 years and being unable to transition and that’s not uncommon for others. Soooo generally, I can’t see the need to unionize at costco as they treat everyone really well and the pay is good.
There’s tons of high paying jobs for work that doesn’t require a degree. A lot of the time they’re very niche, or dangerous… but degrees aren’t the only factor in pay scale. I’m assuming you didn’t get six figures in your position.
Besides… just because something is subjectively good doesn’t mean it can’t be better. Unions aren’t just a way to say “fuck you, pay me”, they’re also a way for workers to organize and present an organized list of requests. It benefits a good company to be able to go to a large group of people with a general idea of what’s good for them than try and please individuals with individual needs and goals.
One of the easiest ways to 6 figures is a degree. Which I went from making $17.50/hr to 100k in 5 years by getting my degree. You can get 100k without a degree but it usually comes with trading wear and tear on your body.
That’s the thing, Costco treats it’s employees better than any union environment ive worked along. Costco is a prime example of not needing a union. I used to say I’m pro union but I’ve come to think I want to work for a company that respects and pays for it’s labor and that’s what Costco does.
That may have been very true for your store. Obviously the workers at the store who already unionized and those who are actively trying to unionize have had different experiences and feel differently.
You can’t possibly understand the culture of working at Costco. It’s almost cult like in the nicest way possible to use that expression. Jim Sinigal came to or store once and it was like a rock star was walking through. Dude was a cool guy. Really, as a former employee, it’s perplexing why they would feel the need to or want to unionize. If it works out cool, I just hope it doesn’t create the typical union bullshit I experienced elsewhere.
Again, clearly those that unionized felt it was necessary, and clearly those thay are trying to do as well. If they ddint, they wouldn’t be doing it. I’m not saying your experience was the same or that you’re wrong for having enjoyed your time there. Just that your experience is not in any way, shape, or form the end all be all.
Things vary largely from store to store in all companies. I’ve worked at places that were essentially the exact opposite, overall company is absolutely horrible but my specific store had managers that were amazing and kept bullshit away from us.
Acshually vibes
I only worked there for a few months. I was not treated well.
They gave me most of my schedule within a few days of my shifts, and frequently called me in my off days to demand I come in. This is against official policy, but clearly it wasn’t enforced.
Additionally, I was blatantly lied to during the interview then gaslit. The only reason I accepted the job was because they had recruiters at my college advertising a program where students would only work seasonally outside college semesters. I wanted to focus on my studies and my college was very cheap. They reiterated that during my interview. A few days from my semester starting, they started listing several upcoming days where I’d need to work, and called me a liar for telling them I wasn’t supposed to work outside semesters.
There were other issues I’d rather not bother writing here.
The most insulting part of all this isn’t even how they treated me, it’s how I can’t bring that up to anyone without people jumping to poor lil Costco’s defense and saying it’s “for sure only the store you worked at”.
In case anybody feels the urge to call me spoiled, I also worked at Walmart and it didn’t really leave an impression on me. It was fine, my only negative experience there was one HR person.
My homie works at Costco and makes more than half my friends with degrees - loves his coworkers and gets paid much better than when I worked grocery.
I think they’re good with raises, too.
They’re solid with raises on schedule. I went 3 years without a riase in corporate America.