Last month, Costco workers in a store in Southeastern Virginia voted to unionize. While it’s not Coscto’s first unionized location, it certainly isn’t the trend at Costco. Only 5 percent of Costco’s 208,000 employees are union members.
What’s remarkable about this is not that employees voted to unionize — unions have been campaigning heavily and publicly, with Starbucks being the star example of what a union push can accomplish. What’s remarkable is Costco’s response.
Last week, employees at a Costco voted in favor of forming a union. Below is their classy statement in response 👏👏👏 pic.twitter.com/d25lPznrAY
— Millennial Politics (@MillenPolitics) December 31, 2023
Costco CEO Craig Jelinek and president Ron Vachris issued the above letter regarding the union vote, and it’s notable for the approach they took. Instead of defending the company, they addressed the real problem: The people who voted to unionize didn’t feel heard. They wrote, in part:
To keep reading, click here: Costco Employees Just Voted to Unionize. The Company’s Response Is Remarkable
I get the impression that Costco believes that management will get the union they deserve. I agree that some of their response could be PR damage control. I have also seen what bad management can do. Usually by the time a union is formed, the conditions have festered for so long, little thought is made about the consequences of organizing.