Costco workers in Norfolk have unionised and Costco are seething.
I’m super pro-union, and strongly support the unionization of the Norfolk workers, but I should acknowledge that this looks like a pretty reasonable response from Costco that’s far cry from the whiny, hostile, threatening responses we’re seeing from the likes of Amazon and Tesla. (absent any other information about the situation).
If you don’t want your employees to unionise, you should give them great conditions, minimising the benefit of unionization, then not sook about it if they unionize anyway - which is exactly what appears to be happening here.
That said, I’m open to being corrected.
I only know marginally more but I think you’re right.
Costco is known for being a good corporate citizen to its members and employees.
Costco at least tries to appear to be the pinnacle of “just” Capitalism, with generous benefits and wages in comparison to the market and intentionally low margins for profit, reinvesting everything else.
This response is 100% expected, though never trust a corpo to be willingly benign. Corpos will always do what’s best for those with the power to influence their direction.
Sure it sounds reasonable because if they took the mask off there would be an epidemic of other stores realizing they need to unionize too. It doesn’t matter how disarming upper management acts because ultimately the role of the capitalist to employees is that of an oppressor. At least with a union you have a VERY limited means of pushing back against that dynamic.
It might seem like a good statement on the surface, but the whole idea of “We don’t think our workers need a union because we’re already willing to listen” is just a blatant lie. A company that truly wants it’s labor to feel heard would want an employee union so that they can communicate and negotiate in an honest, straight forward manner. Telling employees that they shouldn’t need a union is a manipulation tactic.
What I was saying was more along the lines of “Make things so good your employees won’t see a benefit to unionisation” than “We already listen”. One is outcomes focused, the other vaguely ‘effort’ focused, and easy to lie about.
Company-run unions tend to be pointless - at best, acting as a bit of an advisory body that’ll back down the moment push comes to shove.
It’s better, but still childish. “We’re not angry, we’re disappointed”.
If you are really taking care of your employees, you don’t have to worry about a union, and would support your employees to form one.
To be fair, the disappointment is directed at themselves, not the employees. If they’d said they were disappointed in the employees for unionising then I would agree with you, but this to me at least reads like “we haven’t been doing enough and need to do better”.
I thought the same. I applaud them for recognizing their need for change.
I don’t know, man. The wording of that still paints the act of having a union as a bad thing.
You wouldn’t say, “I’m disappointed that my son only has a 3.9 GPA, but actually I’m disappointed in myself for letting that happen” If it’s not truly a bad thing, no one needs to be disappointed at all. Unions are good for everyone, except literally the people at the very top who might only make 7 digits instead of 8.
The framing matters, and this is still worded like a backhanded framing of “unions bad” from corporate like they’re saying “Yeah, the dog shit in the bed but we should be responsible as owners”
That coupled with the cookie cutter anti-union advice to just talk to your manager if you’re unhappy (so they can unfailingly steer you away from a union) makes this whole thing just sound like an HR guy framed it to be as inoffensive as possible while still painting the union itself as bad.
I’d say that it paints requiring a union as a bad thing. In a perfect world, with both workers and management valuing each other appropriately, a union shouldn’t be necessary because there is established trust and respect. I think a completely appropriate response is “We thought we had that trust, but if we created a situation where our employees felt they needed a union, then obviously we didn’t earn that trust. We should have done better.”
That’s why I love the letter. It’s we failed since you felt the need to do this. I can’t find where Costco has tried to bust unions like Starbucks or other companies. I have found cares where they suspended suppliers who were trying to union bust. All and all they seem to be an ethical company.
In a perfect world, everything is fair and power imbalances don’t exist. In a perfect world capitalism may not exist. In a perfect world is not a good tool for analysis, here, and doesn’t excuse the tone-deaf response from Costco.
In our actual world, where virtually every other corporation is what it is, why would Costco think they are completely immune from the distrust that sows? Why would Costco think this doesn’t come off as manipulative? Why didn’t they emphasize “we apologize and we will do better”?
No, I think the under-handed tone of doom and gloom was very deliberate. I think they want the effect it had: reinforcing their stance that unions are bad, to let the employees know that they should still fear retribution of some vague type, if only to slow down employees at other stores following suit, while they devise a strategy to deal with it.
Not necessarily, I would agree with you in a lot of cases but there is such a thing as a bad union org.
deleted by creator
I feel Ike most people don’t realize how Costco workers are treated which is important context for this letter. Costco literally looks like a union job on its surface, good pay, full benefits, good time off accrual rates. Like yeah i understand what the letter is saying. They already treat their workers as good as most unions are able to negotiate, I’d feel a little upset about it too if i was in that leadership. Not because they joined a union but because they felt like they needed to. Would make me wonder if there were poor conditions i wasn’t aware of.
They couldn’t have worded this letter any better. It puts the responsibility on them (leadership) it says they did not think it was necessary but obviously they have some blind spots. It acknowledges the value of unions, and in no way demonizes them or the employees.
Welcome to Costco we love you.
-Honestly that’s the most direct corporate statement I’ve seen so far, it feels real.
Ha! Agh, how did I miss this link?? 😂
Costco does have that ethos, but it’s still essentially a benevolent dictatorship without the power dynamic of a union
It’s also a bit of a farce, Costco hide behind their ethos while handing out no more than 3% raises a year and that’s for exceptional work. They just paid out a dividend to shareholders too
It does put it into perspective. Call me cynical or realistic, but something in me saw this as a nice trap for union-considerers. “Just talk about how you feel with your manager” -> at will fired.
I literally thought they were a union job.
Probably promise of higher wages, their other benes are already on point.
I think this is a classy response. I’d love to see more about the fight if one took place .
It definitely is, but taking their statement at face value, I still don’t think they should feel bad. The only way to find out what your employees want and need is for them to unionize. Unless labor is organized on its own terms, labor cannot really express itself to corporate leadership. And not everything workers want or need is selfish; believe it or not, most workers are proud of the work they do, and want the company to thrive for everyone - ownership, management, labor, customers, environment. Ownership only thinks of ownership, management only exists to enforce ownership dictates. A fuller picture which includes the rest will result in a strong and stable business that has a long, long future.
Unions are good for everyone.
Me too, seems like there is more to this story.
The best any Capitalist firm can offer to its employees is a “benevolent” dictatorship. Unions provide an actual change to the underlying power dynamic, which is why capitalist firms oppose them so much.
Super happy for the workers in Norfolk, let’s keep this kind of collective action rolling forward!
Echoing others, Costco is a solid employer and I actually believe their sentiment.
HOWEVER
The difference between union and non-union is the difference between asking your employer pretty please to treat you well and telling your employer how you will accept being treated.
Even if the union yields no improvements whatsoever for the workers, it’s worth it just to have that express and clear leveling of the playing field.
I understand where the Costco management is coming from, since I’ve heard they do, in fact, strive in putting their employees with great pay and benefits. But they got to realize that employees need to unionize so that their good pay and benefits continue in the future. There are no guarantees that Costco will continue to do so unless they have unions.
Idk how you read that letter and interpret it as “seething”. I read nothing of the sort.
When something challenges some people’s world views, the only response they can muster is to imagine whoever is involved must be lying through their teeth.
Yeah, I’m sure the corporate suits at Costco writing "We’re not anti-union, but . . . " are being perfectly genuine.
People credulously taking corporate speak at face value. You have to understand that this letter was crafted by a committee that included whichever anti-union consulting firms they have on retainer. The persona that a corporation projects is created and maintained by its public relations machine. It’s Edward Bernays-level propaganda to manipulate their employees, their customers, the government, and the public.
GOOD post
Based on what I’ve heard about Costco, they’re literally the only company that I could read this letter and think “yeah, they’re probably genuine about their sentiment”.
Unionizing is ALWAYS a good idea, just in case, but as far as companies go, Costco has always gone out of its way to make sure their people are taken care of.
https://ethicsunwrapped.utexas.edu/case-study/the-costco-model
The above is a study from the University of Texas. The conclusion seems to be that yes…it’s still retail, with all the usual crap that comes with it, but the company actually tries to mitigate it as much as possible.
For real. The kicker for me is that I recognize almost every worker at my local Costco. They aren’t just new faces every week. I worked retail for years and I’ve never seen a retail place retain so many people for so long.
I’m a retail manager and I would love to be a manager for Costco.
Half my stress comes from trying to fight head office on behalf of my staff while being the guy that gets yelled at by both sides.
Managers aren’t all on the companies side. We’re just stuck in the middle.
When I was a low-level retail manager my perspective was that my staff was there to take care of the customers, my bosses were there to take care of the store, and my job was to take care of my staff.
I’ve been going to the same Costco for 8 years. And I’ve been saying hi to Jim for 8 years.
Costco has a reputation for treating workers well and compensating fairly, union or not.
That said, it’s still great news for those workers as they have greater assurance and say on their working conditions and no longer need to rely on the goodwill of Costco’s management because who knows if or when financial headwinds will change their practices.
Yeah, some of the upper echelon even got chewed out and threatened to never raise the price of a hot dog. While I see them as a company that treats their employees well, and customers fairly, I do see the C-suite and their teams generally as capable of changing all that to squeeze out more money.
That said, time will tell; if they don’t pull a starbucks and start closing down businesses, then they aren’t anti-union. Then again, unlike Starbucks, Costco typically buys the land and builds massive warehouses… that cant normally be said for Starbucks’s investment in their stores; they typically rent in a shopping center.
I used to work at Costco, although only for a summer.
Every time I shared my experience working at Costco to friends and family, they were quick to jump to Costco’s defense, as if I was insulting a dead relative. Countless times, if not every single time, I heard “it’s probably only the Costco you worked at”.
For comparison, I also worked at Walmart, and my experience there was neutral, but I’ve had some people try to dig for bad experiences. There were some bad experiences, but at the end of the day, when I clocked out, I was done working (unlike Costco).
Don’t put too much trust into these corporations.
I think experiences like yours really is what is covered in Costco management’s disappointment in this letter.
The Teamsters got an excellent national agreement raising wage standards across the organization, and makes it seem Costco hasn’t kept up. On the other hand, the odd pressure tactic, bit of favoritism, or dirty trick store managers pull get people motivated to join unions as well.
at the end of the day, when I clocked out, I was done working (unlike Costco).
Could you expand on this a little, please? Were they expecting you to work off the clock, were they calling you at home for some reason, were they expecting you to keep open availability?
Consumers lacking class consciousness, siding with their favorite brands over workers. smdh.
Yeah, even the most worker friendly business can have blind spots. Hell, if Unions themselves can have blind spots, then anything with a motive of profit is going to have FAR more, no matter what they do or say
Always be pro union, always trust the workers that a business is abusive, never trust the business
You can support unions across the board and still be able to commend Costco on the good it does for its employees.
Anyone who shits wholesale on the company (pun intended) is missing the point.
Respectfully, I think that’s where the downvotes are coming from.
More downvotes. Am I the only one here actually holding a Red Card?
A lot of the downvotes are probably coming from lemmy world and sh.itholefor.nazis, two instances that are really bad for downvoting anything left of hitler. Fun fact: if you get banned from those instances your post stop showing up for their users so can’t downvote you.
In truth I have a high tolerance for fake internet demerits. If I get no downvotes at all it’s a sign of tailism.
Just last night I watched the season 1 finale to Superstore and the “joke” message they were making was exactly what this letter is saying. Seriously guys you don’t need a union because we care! 🤣
That’s literally every single company’s talking points.
Yeah, Costco has always been hated by Wall Street for how well it treats its workers, and how well they’re compensated. They’re always dinged for being able to send more profits to shareholders than they do, because they treat their workers too well.
They are pretty much the only large company that would send a letter like this that I would believe. Good for Norfolk, but no one should lump Costco in with, say, Walmart, as far as big box retailers go. They really do cleave to a higher ethical standard.
Good. I know some people who work at Costco and they tell me that the work has been pure bullshit, overworked and constantly understaffed, hopefully this gets picked up and more Costcos unionize
We’re not anti-union, but…
