Costco Teamsters in San Diego joined hundreds of other union members from throughout southern California at a practice picket Thursday afternoon as the Jan. 31 deadline of the Costco National Master Agreement approaches.
Nationwide, more than 18,000 Teamsters at Costco are demanding a new contract and are prepared to strike if Costco does not meet their requests, the union said in a release.
Practice pickets have already been held in Hayward, California; Sumner, Washington, and Long Island.
The Teamsters said the demands for fair wages and benefits for workers were a result of company profit.
Costco recently reported $254 billion in annual revenue and $7.4 billion in net profits — a 135% increase since 2018.
“Many of us have given decades of our lives to this company, and all we are asking for is a fair share of its massive success,” said John Robledo, a Costco worker in Carson, California, and a member of Local 572.
The final round of negotiations is set to begin on Monday near Costco’s corporate headquarters in Issaquah, Washington.
