Retail wholesale giant Costco announced pay increases for all employees at its non-union stores to push most of its hourly U.S. workers over $30 an hour, according to a memo obtained by Reuters, ahead of a planned nationwide strike by Costco Teamsters.
Costco will increase pay for non-union employees at the top of Costco's pay scale by $1 to $30.20 an hour the first year, with an additional $1 increase for each of the subsequent two years. Non-union employees at the lower end of the pay scale will see an increase of 50 cents, the memo said, bringing their pay to $20 an hour. physical roulette machine
Additional benefits will also be added, including an extra week of vacation after 30 years and vacation time for workers in their first year, according to Forbes.
"With these changes, we believe our hourly wages and benefits will continue to far outpace others in the retail industry," the memo said.
The increases are for non-union workers. The more than 18,000 workers at about 50 of the chain's 624 U.S. locations that are union shops will not receive the same pay raise and benefits. Any changes for them will come with a new contract to replace the previous one that expired Jan. 31, 2025.
Costco's announcement was released a day before union members were about to go on a nationwide strike. The Teamsters labor union said on Saturday that its negotiating committee had reached a tentative agreement for a new contract, Reuters reported. Details have not yet been released, pending a vote by the membership.
Specific dates were not included in the memo.
Teamsters spokesperson Matthew McQuaid said the pay increase was due to the pressure being put on by the union.
"Don’t be fooled by Costco’s fake generosity. This is not a worker-friendly company — it's a company that’s terrified of worker power," McQuaid said. "There are still 18,000 unionized workers who know their worth and are demanding it."
Costco is one of the highest-paying employers in retail. In July, Costco CEO Ron Vachris announced that starting pay and highest pay for service assistants, service clerks, and meat cutters would increase by $1 an hour, bringing the starting wage to $19.50 an hour.
50-cent increases for other employees, determined by seniority, were applied to nearly all hourly employees last summer, bringing the top scale of clerks to $30.90 an hour. This followed a raise of 50 cents an hour in March 2024 and two previous pay hikes in 2021, according to Business Insider.
Median hourly pay for a retail sales worker in the U.S. (meaning half of the sales workers make more and half of them make less) was $16.30 per hour, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The minimum hourly wage in Florida is currently $13 an hour for non-tipped employees and $9.98 for tipped employees, thanks to the amendment Floridians approved in 2020 to raise the wage incrementally until it reaches $15 an hour for non-tipped employees in 2026.
The minimum wage will rise by another $1 on September 30, 2025.
In January, Costco became one of the few major companies to resist pressure to drop their DEI programs that "empower our workforce and strengthen our culture by creating an environment where all employees feel a sense of belonging — that they are accepted, included, respected and valued for who they are," according to Costo's Inclusion goals. Costco shareholders voted down an investor proposal from a conservative think tank that urged management to investigate the business risks of its diversity initiatives.
More than 98% of shares voted against the proposal, according to preliminary results announced by Costco chairman Hamilton “Tony” James.
"We owe our success to the more than 300,000 employees who serve our members every day. It is important that they all feel included and appreciated and that they transmit these values to our customers," James said.
After the vote, more than 19 Republican state attorneys general wrote to Costco demanding that they repeal their DEI policies, in accordance with President Donald Trump's executive order encouraging “the Private Sector to End Illegal DEI discrimination and Preferences” or explain why they have not. Costco has not yet responded.
Since Trump took office, several major companies have publicly dropped their diversity initiatives, including Amazon, Meta, Walmart, Nissan and Target.
luckymaster There are 33 Costco warehouses in Florida. You can find the list here.