Concerns raised about who’s being hired to build the new Costco in east Windsor.
Local iron and sheet metal workers set up an information picket at the construction site Wednesday morning, claiming crews from outside the region are doing the steel work, along with other out-of-town trades.
Don Smith with Ironworkers Local 700 says local tradespeople are available and would normally be part of a project like this.
“We’re just setting up an information packet to make people in Windsor-Essex aware that Costco is, in their wisdom, brought in a bunch of people from Quebec to put up the steel on this new Costco that’s going up,” Smith said.
“They’ve got guys from out of town doing their electrical. They’ve got other people doing mechanical stuff here.”
He says it’s frustrating given the unemployment rate sits at 8.2 per cent in Windsor-Essex.
“With the high unemployment, over 8 per cent, over 20 per cent for youth under 24, that here Costco, they think that there’s enough money here for them to put up a second building, but they don’t want to employ local people on it,” he said.
Smith calls the situation unusual and says the goal is to make the community aware and push for more local hiring.
“It is odd. Usually we have local people coming and working on these projects, and here today we don’t,” Smith said.
AM800 has reached out to Costco for comment.
The $130-million development, being built on Catherine Street behind Home Depot, is expected to include a gas station. The plans call for approximately 25,000 square meters of floor space and just under 1,400 parking spots.
Rock Developments said in September 2025 that the project was on schedule for a 2026 opening.