Teamsters reelect O’Brien and Zuckerman, signaling continuity for Costco workers

Sean M. O’Brien and Fred Zuckerman won another five-year term atop the Teamsters on June 16, keeping the same leadership team in place for the next phase of Costco bargaining and enforcement. The union said 1,572 delegates voted at its 31st International Convention in Las Vegas, where the O’Brien-Zuckerman slate was elected by white ballot after a secret ballot vote.

For Costco workers, the result points to continuity rather than a reset. O’Brien and Zuckerman were the public faces of the Teamsters during the 2025 Costco contract fight, and their return means the same people who helped define that round are still positioned to shape the union’s approach to wages, pensions, discipline and organizing at Costco warehouses, depots and related logistics sites.

That matters because the 2025 Costco national master agreement runs from February 1, 2025 through January 31, 2028, according to Teamsters contract materials. More than 18,000 Costco Teamsters ratified the deal, which the union said delivered large wage increases, a 22 percent boost in pension contributions and more than 40 language improvements. Among the changes Teamsters highlighted were stronger seniority rights, better vacation benefits, expanded shop steward protections, new safeguards against surveillance and a lead wage premium that rose to $2 per hour.

The agreement followed an earlier national contract that covered February 1, 2022 through January 31, 2025, showing how Costco bargaining has become a recurring national cycle rather than a one-time fight. Teamsters also said Costco had forced the union to suspend earlier negotiations after refusing to agree to a card-check neutrality agreement, a dispute that kept organizing and contract enforcement tied closely together inside the Costco universe.

The convention itself is scheduled to run June 15-18 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, and union leaders used the gathering to show scale as well as stability. Teamsters said the organization has gained more than 100,000 new members in four years, while the O’Brien-Zuckerman administration said it organized more than 90,000 workers in that same span. The union also said its broader agenda includes fights at UPS and Amazon, two companies whose labor standards often shape expectations across the warehouse and logistics sector.

O’Brien joined Teamsters Local 25 at 18 and later became the youngest president in the local’s 128-year history in 2006. Zuckerman became a business agent in 1993, was elected president of Local 89 in 1999 and won re-election seven times before leading Joint Council 94, which represented Teamsters in Kentucky, Indiana and West Virginia. Delegates also heard from Rep. Ro Khanna and Sens. Josh Hawley and Cory Booker, a sign that the union is treating the convention as a political platform as much as a leadership vote. For Costco workers, the signal is clear: the same national leadership that pushed through the last contract is still in charge of the next round.