Costco employee details negotiations ahead of union's strike deadline
In pursuit of increased wages and renegotiated employee benefits, more than 18,000 Costco union members nationwide voted to authorize a strike if the wholesale company doesn't agree to their terms by Jan. 31.
The looming Costco strike marks the latest in a string of Teamsters union walkouts from employees of industry giants including Amazon and Starbucks.
The strike was approved on Sunday with more than 85% of Costco Teamsters voting in favor of hitting the picket lines if demands aren't met.
The union said Costco had rejected contract proposals that included increased seniority pay, paid family leave, bereavement policies, sick time and safeguards against surveillance.
Bryan Fields, a Costco employee in Baltimore and member of Teamsters Local 570, told ABC News that the strike deadline comes after months of stalled conversations, extensions and failed negotiations with the company.
"They had plenty of months to negotiate and they would extend, extend, extend," Fields, who has worked for the membership-only retailer for over a decade, claimed.
He and Teamsters spokesperson Matt McQuaid said negotiations with the company have been ongoing since August, without agreement.
ABC News has reached out to Costco Wholesale for a comment.
"No one wants to strike, no one's excited about doing anything like that, and I'm sure they don't want us to do that as well," Fields said of the company, adding, "Let's bypass all of that and just do what they promise in their code of conduct, which is 'take care of employees.'"
According to Teamsters, Costco recently reported $254 billion in annual revenue and $7.4 billion in net profits, which marked a 135% increase since 2018.
While the details of the union's negotiations with Costco's top brass remain fluid, according to McQuaid, employees are "fully prepared" to picket come Feb. 1 if an agreement is not reached.
Last week hundreds of Costco Teamsters nationwide organized practice pickets from Hayward, California, to Sumner, Washington, and Long Island, New York, the organization said in a press release Sunday.
The 18,000 Teamsters union members who voted to authorize the strike account for 8% of Costco's mostly non-union employees.
"Our members have spoken loud and clear -- Costco must deliver a fair contract, or they'll be held accountable," Teamsters General President Sean M. O'Brien said in the release.
"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. If they refuse, they'll have no one to blame but themselves when our members go on strike," O'Brien added.
The membership-only warehouse club chain is the third-largest retailer in the world behind Walmart and Amazon, with over 600 locations across the U.S.
Fields says employees who are the "backbone" of the multi-billion-dollar company's success just want a "piece of the pie." He hopes Costco can reach an agreement with union members before the strike terms expire, saying, "It's in their hands right now."
"The union is simply a voice of the people. They choose whether we become the weapon for the people. It's as simple as that," Fields said.
