Teamsters tie Juneteenth to paid holiday push at Costco

The Teamsters used Juneteenth to press a workplace argument: freedom on the calendar only matters if workers can take the day without losing pay, flexibility or respect. On June 19, the union framed the holiday as a reminder that workers have had to fight for dignity on the job, saying it honors the day by negotiating equitable contracts, pushing employers to recognize Juneteenth and using the union’s diversity to build worker power.

For Costco employees, that fight lands in the details of the schedule and the benefits package. Costco says workers get eight paid holidays and one paid floating holiday that can be used for a meaningful day such as Juneteenth, along with paid bonding leave. The company also says it guarantees minimum scheduled hours for full-time and part-time employees and posts weekly schedules at least three weeks in advance, policies that shape whether a holiday is actually workable for front-end clerks, stockers, forklift operators, meat and bakery staff, optical workers and warehouse managers.

The Teamsters’ Juneteenth message echoed a 2021 resolution that tied the holiday to Black labor exploitation, wage disparity, union-busting tactics and right-to-work laws. That resolution urged local unions, joint councils and other affiliates to aggressively propose and negotiate Juneteenth as a paid holiday in Teamster contracts, turning a commemoration of emancipation into a bargaining demand that reaches directly into contract talks.

Juneteenth marks June 19, 1865, when Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, and announced the end of slavery under General Order No. 3, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. The National Museum of African American History and Culture says more than 250,000 African Americans in Texas were freed by executive decree that day. The holiday became the 11th federal holiday when President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act on June 17, 2021, after the U.S. Senate passed it on June 15 and the U.S. House on June 16.

At least 31 states and the District of Columbia have designated Juneteenth as a permanent paid and/or legal holiday through legislation or executive action, and all 50 states and the District of Columbia recognize it as a holiday or observance. For Costco workers, that makes Juneteenth more than a symbolic date: it is a test of whether a company known for its high-wage model and structured scheduling will treat holiday recognition as a matter of real workplace power.