The Unionization Wave Is Hitting Costco
Costco workers in Norfolk, Virginia, recently unionized, defying the company’s reputation as one that cares about workers. In an interview, a Costco worker says he and his coworkers are tired of being treated with disrespect on the job.
Costco’s executives are eyeballing the number 18,238 and plastering letters of contrition in break rooms after workers at the wholesale retail chain’s Norfolk, Virginia, store voted to join Teamsters Local 822 in late December.
“We’re not disappointed in our employees; we’re disappointed in ourselves as managers and leaders,” wrote outgoing CEO Craig Jelinek and then president and now CEO Ron Vachris in a memo on December 29. “The fact that a majority of Norfolk employees felt that they wanted or needed a union constitutes a failure on our part.”
This pattern — contrition, apology, vows to do better — is nothing new in the union-busting playbook. But Costco was supposedly one of the good, high-road employers with an enlightened management that put workers first and invested in them. That’s why it was credited with one of the highest retention rates in the industry.
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