Costco - Labor Relations

Labor Relations

While some former Price Club locations in California and the northeastern United States are staffed by Teamsters, the majority of Costco locations are not unionized although there seems to be a move in 2012 to unionize some locations in Canada. The non-union locations have revisions to their Costco Employee Agreement every three years concurrent with union contract ratifications in locations with collective bargaining agreements. Only remotely similar to a union contract, the Employee Agreement sets forth such things as benefits, compensations, wages, disciplinary procedures, paid holidays, bonuses, and seniority. The employee 'agreement' is subject to change by Costco at any time and offers no absolute protection to the workers. As of March 2011, non-supervisory hourly wages ranged from $11.00 to $21.00 in the United States, $11.00 to $22.15 in Canada, and £6.28 to £10.50 in the United Kingdom. In the US, eighty-five percent of Costco's workers have health insurance, compared with less than fifty percent at Walmart and Target.

Product-demonstration (e.g., food samples) employees work for an outside company. In the western U.S., the company is called Warehouse Demo Services, Kirkland, Washington. Costco also uses Club Demonstration Services, based in San Diego, California. In Canada, demonstrations are done exclusively by Professional Warehouse Demonstrations. Demonstration employees receive a pay and benefit package that is less than that of Costco employees.