Business & Tech

Costco Responds to Union Claims

A representative from the wholesaler contends that local unions were given ample opportunity to bid on the Warminster construction.

When the general contractor for the Warminster Costco construction project sent out bid requests, he received less than half-a-dozen responses from union shops, says a Costco executive.

"We were baffled by the lack of response, especially in today's economy," said Ali Moayeri, senior vice president of construction for Costco, on the phone from his office in Issaquah, Wash.

Moayeri says he met with Bernard Griggs of the Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council a year and-a-half ago and compiled a list of approximately 80 qualified contractors for the sites in Warminster and Sanatoga in Montgomery County.

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"I have a very detailed spreadsheet that shows who replied to the request for bids," said Moayeri.

He says that he brought the subject of the lack of response to Griggs' attention and that Griggs told Moayeri that Costco's open shop policy was the cause.

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"We've maintained the open shop policy for more than 20 years," said Moayeri. "I just visited a site in California that is 50/50 union and nonunion labor. We also have a site in New York that is 100 percent union."

Griggs maintains that those bids were submitted, but summarily dismissed by the general contractor before they got to Moayeri's desk.

Moayeri also pointed out that Costco has an aggressive prevailing wage policy that closely adheres to state and local guidelines.

"There was an accusation in Sanatoga that one of the workers was not getting properly compensated," said Moayeri. "I personally investigated the payroll statements and interviewed the parties involved, and found the claim to be completely false."

The only segment of the project that is primarily done with non-union labor is the steelwork, mainly the roof. Instead, Costco has used California-based Span Construction & Engineering to complete the bulk of steel for all of its sites because of the unique qualities of the roof and skin.

"It's a pre-engineered system that Span has created," said Moayeri. "We've clocked the time it takes Span's workers to install the steel compared to local unions, and Span comes in at 10,900 hours, against the unions' average of 14,000-plus."


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