Thousands of Costco staff are preparing to strike with the midnight contract.

Thousands of Costco workers were ready to strike with a midnight deadline approaching Friday while the Workers’ Association and the company were negotiating.

Teamsters Union represents 18,000 Costco workers in six states: California, Washington, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey and New York.

It is unclear if the strikes would close the stores. Costco has 219,000 US employees and 617 US stores. The company said its work agreement with Teamsters applies to less than 10% of these stores.

On January 20, Teamsters members in Costco voted overwhelmingly for a strike if a new three-year contract agreement was not reached at midnight Friday when the current contract expires.

The members of the Union say Issaquah, Washington, the company has to submit a contract offer that reflects its sales and surplus growth. Costcos revenue rose $ 5% to $ 254 billion in the last financial year, which ended on September 1st. The company reported a net income of $ 7.36 billion twice as large as profit in 2019.

“Costco has two choices: Respect the workers that made them a success or face a national strike,” Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien said in a statement. “Costco Teamsters deserve an industry -leading contract that reflects the company’s huge profits. If Costco thinks they can take advantage of our members while smoking in billions, we shut them down. “

Costco said in a statement that it has had a good relationship with the Union for decades and negotiates in good faith.

“We have always treated our employees fairly and well through the history of our company,” Costco said.