18,000 Teamsters authorize strike in Costco contract fight

By Janet Post
February 10, 2025
Costco workers, members of the Warehouse Division of the Teamsters union, protested outside company headquarters Jan. 23 in Issaquah, Washington, to demand a new contract.
TeamstersCostco workers, members of the Warehouse Division of the Teamsters union, protested outside company headquarters Jan. 23 in Issaquah, Washington, to demand a new contract.

“Who are we? Teamsters. What do we want? A contract. When do we want it? Now. If we don’t get it? Shut them down,” shouted dozens of Costco workers, members of the Warehouse Division of the Teamsters union, at a Jan. 23 rally at the company’s corporate headquarters in Issaquah, Washington. Costco’s annual shareholders meeting was taking place inside. The unionists are gearing up for a possible strike when their National Master Agreement expires Jan. 31. Their first agreement was signed in 2022.

“We get a free membership, and half of us can’t even afford to shop there,” fleet driver Paul Lowrie, a member of Teamsters Local 174 in Sumner, Washington, said at the rally. “It’s ridiculous.”

More than 18,000 union members at 56 stores nationwide voted by 85% to authorize the strike. This is 8% of Costco’s 219,000 workers at 624 stores. The strike would impact stores in six states — California, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Virginia and Washington. Forty of those stores are in California. The vast majority of Costco workers are nonunion.

The company rejected the union’s proposals for increased seniority pay, paid family leave, sick time, increases to retirement benefits, bereavement policies and “safeguards” against management surveillance. Costco is also refusing to accept a card-check agreement that would make it easier for workers to join the union.

Costco “expelled union representatives from stores, harassed and intimidated workers for wearing Teamsters buttons, sent employees home and blocked the Teamsters from providing updates on in-store union bulletin boards during negotiations,” the union told Forbes magazine.

Practice strikes were held in mid-January in Sumner; Massapequa, New York; and in San Diego, Long Beach and Hayward, California. “We’re out here today to send a clear message to Costco that we are ready to do whatever it takes to secure the contract we deserve,” said Jesse Sexton, a Teamsters Local 150 member, at the practice strike Jan. 15 in Hayward.

“From day one, we’ve told Costco that our members won’t work a day past Jan. 31 without a historic, industry-leading agreement,” Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien told the press Jan. 20.

“If picket lines go up Feb. 1, people can check Teamster.org for more information,” Jamie Fleming, Local 174 communications director, told the Militant. “People can join the picket line, bring food if you can. The best support is when people show up.”

Costco is the 11th largest U.S. corporation on the Fortune 500 and recently reported $254 billion in annual revenue, a 135% increase since 2018.

Rebecca Williamson in Seattle contributed to this article.