Connect the Dots

Read this story from today's Seattle Times:

Tentative pact made with Costco, union says

Costco Wholesale reached a tentative agreement with Teamsters representing 13,000 California workers after four months of negotiation, the union said.

The agreement with the Issaquah company represents "significant gains" in retirement, wages and seniority and maintains current pension and health-care contributions, the Teamsters said. Voting on the proposal, which begins in the next two weeks, will be tallied by next month.

The Teamsters will continue to negotiate for the 3,200 Costco workers at 13 warehouses in New York, New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia.

Costco had 71,000 full-time and 56,000 part-time workers worldwide last year, according to its last annual report of Sept. 3.

Now consider this 2004 USA Today story:

Contra Costa, a suburban county of 1 million northeast of San Francisco, is a bellwether battleground because its demographics mirror the state's. In June, the Board of Supervisors voted to limit stores that devote more than 5% of space to groceries to 90,000 square feet. That effectively barred supercenters without naming Wal-Mart. Bulk-food sellers such as Costco were exempted.

"Unincorporated areas are where we want to protect open space," says Supervisor John Gioia. "Large developments don't generate enough sales tax revenue to mitigate the negative impact."

Wal-Mart gathered enough signatures to put a referendum on today's ballot and will spend more than $1 million on the vote, although the company says it has no plans for supercenters in Contra Costa. With $500,000 from Safeway and unions, opponents have knocked on tens of thousands of doors with a plea to keep Wal-Mart from big-footing in local politics.

Jimmy Hoffa would be proud. The unions today have ways of shaking down companies he could have only dreamed of.

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