Thursday, January 30, 2025

Teamsters union prepares for possible Costco strike



OPB is reporting that "Washington state Costco workers who are part of the Teamsters union could go on strike as soon as this Saturday if a new contract is not reached." 

"Union members have been in negotiations with the wholesale food distributor for weeks, but their current contract is set to expire on Friday at midnight. The contract affects 18,000 Costco union members nationwide." (Out of 219,000 - 8.2% of US employees, 0% of Canadian employees)

"Costo union members are seeking better wages, retirement and health care benefits, and seniority rights for workers when choosing shifts, vacations and bidding for jobs, among other things. Representatives for the Teamsters declined an interview request, citing ongoing contract negotiations."

Normally I'd just keep my mouth shut about this but since I have worked for Costco for coming up to 18 years and since I have a whole lot of experience with trade unions, I will speak on this matter. The primary thing I have to say is beware of pride.

Teamsters is a business Union. Better than most. They don't have a history of being greedy. They have a history of being sensible and effective. 

Costco has a long-standing history of being a good employer that treats their employees well. I can attest to that fact. That's why my location isn't Unionized. We don't need one. We don't have a contract we have an agreement. 

It's something the Company says it's willing to give their employees. At first I thought the idea was a bit humorous but I actually much prefer it. If you don't like the agreement work somewhere else. Costco matches other employers to maintain a reliable workforce. As an employee I really like not having to fight out a fair contract. I enjoy the stability of not having to worry about a strike. It's awesome. Take if from a long time employee of Canada Post. 

Candace Post is a very different kind of employer. They're as*holes. As a result their Union, CUPW is extreme. That's why they can't get anything done. That's also why they aren't making a profit any more. Letter carriers would have been better off represented by LCUC or Teamsters. CUPW are dinosaurs who don't understand how outside delivery works and are unable to comprehend the word innovation.

In contrast Cosco is always innovating. They try new things to see what works best and take feedback from the employees if it isn't working. Canada Post would never take feedback from the employees. They always say it's my way or the highway even when the idea is completely impractical. 

Greed applies to everyone - employers, unions and employees. A greedy corporation that exploits it's employees does not have a stable workforce. A greedy union becomes extinct. A greedy employee ends up unemployed. Geed applies to all of us. 

This past week the management at my workplace has been posting results from our new proposed agreement. We will get a dollar an hour raise for each year. It's pretty obvious we got that because of the Teamster's threat of a strike. Thank you very much. Now is the time for the Teamsters to stay at the negotiating table and not call a full strike yet. 

The CEO of Costco produced a video message talking about the strike and I thought he was very fair. Costco isn't going to lock out the Union. The Teamsters would be wise to stay at the table with the possibility of a strike in the balance. 

Teamsters would be wise not to get greedy. If they do, they'll lose their Costco locals. When the contract expires, you can go on strike but you can also decertify a Union. 

"In the United States, employees can decertify a union after a contract expires by filing a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The NLRB will then hold a secret ballot election to determine if the union should be removed as the bargaining representative." You only need 30% to sign a petition to trigger a decertify referendum. Then it's just 51% to decertify

Teamsters would be wise to be reasonable. If they are, other industries would see that and call upon them to organize their workplaces. I'm not referring to other Costco locations. I'm referring to other workplaces where the employers are greedy and exploit their workers. 

When I look at my wages and benefits in Canada, I have no need or desire to go on strike. Strike for what? More money? More holidays? Better benefits? I'm happy with all of the above. That means I have no need to join a Union and pay union dues. I have no desire to change my peaceful workplace into a place of conflict and strife. The Union mentality changes the atmosphere completely. 

Instead of an employee agreement we have a list of demands. That concept in itself is abrasive. The thought of my workplace unionizing gave me a lot of anxiety. I don't want to do that again. Before I worked at Canada Post I did some construction. It was a large commercial company but it was nonunion. There was a Union shop down the street and because of that my employer came close to matching their wages and benefits. I benefited from the union down the street without belong to a union.

I realize the whole union debate can get very heated. People have a right to join a Union if they choose. However, we just saw what Amazon did to their Quebec workers who joined  a Union. Amazon is not a good employer. Costco is. 

So again, my advice to Teamsters is don't get greedy. It's not about you. If you can be reasonable and sensible, you will be able to expand into other industries. If you get too greedy you'll become extinct like many of the other dinosaur unions. 

One of the reasons Costco does so well is because they hire from within. Ron Vachris, the current CEO of Costco started off as a forklift driver. That means he knows the job because he's done it. Other industries could benefit from that model.

In other news, Trump is pressuring Costco do get rid of it's diversity workplace policy. Costco said no so the Latino and the Black community are having shop ins supporting Costco as a fair employer. Rev Al Sharpton led the shop in.


Costco's profit Margin

We also need to discuss Costco's profit margin. We used to have weekly meetings that would discuss sales as well as weight and cube of the trailers we ship. We always hear sales are up, sales are up which is a good thing. That means job security. There's no job security without profit. 

There are three things to remember. Costco has a very narrow profit margin. Costco doesn't have much of a mark up on the products it sells. That's why they have to sell in volume. The reports we would hear always mentioned sales in the millions. When hearing that, people could easily think Costo's rich but that's not the case. Total sales is not total profit. Not at all. 

Since Costco's mark up is so small, they need to sell a lot of product to make a profit. That's why Costco is so organized at turning over a large amount of product. If they don't, there's no profit. Sometimes we hear people say Costco is a big company, they can afford it. Costco is a big company. They employ a lot of people. A dollar an hour raise for all the employees company wide is a huge cost. In the real world there's a fine balance between labour costs and profit. 

Shipping products is expensive. Sometimes products are damaged during shipping. Since there is such a small mark up on the products Costco sells, they have to sell a lot of product to pay for the product damaged in shipping. Shipping costs, labours costs, fuel cost, everything is in a very delicate balance. 

A strike would instantly break that balance. If Costco loses money during a strike, then there's no money for raises. The managers at Canada Post are maniacs. They didn't care about a prolonged strike because they operate at a loss. A bigger loss just gives them an excuse to shut it down and let nonunion contractors do the work. Private sector companies can't operate that way. A prolonged strike would put them out of business.

Teamsters understand this. They are a private sector union. They are used to making a profit. The other thing we have to remember is that we're not brain surgeons here. We have to be honest with ourselves and ask how much profit does the work that I do make? If we're not productive then maybe we better just take what they give us before we destroy a good thing. 

There's a lot of hate in the world right now. People are hurting and people have become hateful. They want to find someone to blame. Justin Trudeau and Jagmeet Singh want us to kick the cat. They want us to blame the grocery stores for the mass inflation. That's what they call displaced aggression. 

The skyrocketing inflation was Justin Trudeau and Jagmeet Singh's fault. Their Fake environmentalism caused the fuel shortage and the rise in the price of gas at the pumps. That raises the cost of groceries and everything else we buy in stores because it all takes fuel to transport it to the store. 

So the World Economic Forum puppets want us all to get mad at the Grocery store owners not them. It's just another circus side show. I did notice that while we were seeing skyrocketing inflation a flat of fresh chicken was up to $50. Now that same flat at Costco is back down to $25. All the meat and chicken at Costco is very fairly priced. Since Costco has passed those savings on to the members, that makes the profit margin tighter. Costco is a great company. Don't destroy it by getting greedy. 

Worst case scenario rotating strikes one day at a time. One day at one unionized location, one day another unionized location. That way you send a message but aren't killing your members financially and you're not making it impossible for the company to give you a raise. You don't drain your strike fund either. The problem is they could close those locations. 

6 comments:

  1. The difference between the Teamsters and CUPW is one is a private sector union, the other is a public sector union. Private sector has to compete in just that, the private sector. Public sector unions hold us; the ones who pay them; hostage. The BCTF and nurses unions are the worst examples of this.

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    1. This is true but the differences are more than that. LCUC was a public sector Union and they ran a lot like Teamsters. Aside from being a public sector Union, CUPW is as far left and you can get. They still view profit as the enemy which isn't going to get anyone anywhere.

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  2. Unions were intended for safety not greed!

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    Replies
    1. Indeed. Greed applies to everyone - the company, the union and the employee.

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  3. Replies
    1. Excellent. Now that's a business union:
      https://financialpost.com/news/retail-marketing/costco-unionized-workers-reach-tentative-deal-averting-strike

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