Costco’s board wants shareholders to vote on a challenge to the DEI plan

Costco’s board of directors is urging shareholders to vote against a proposal that would eliminate wholesale diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).

“Our success at Costco Wholesale is built on service to those key stakeholders: employees, members, and suppliers. Our efforts regarding diversity, equity and inclusion follow our code of conduct: For our employees, these efforts are built on inclusion – having it all. our employees feel valued and respected,” the board of directors wrote in a note to investors previously reported by The Hill person in our Company is the importance of creating opportunities for everyone. We believe these efforts improve our ability to attract and retain employees who will help our business succeed. This skill is important because it is important because these efforts improve our ability to attract and retain employees who will help our business succeed. We owe our success to our now more than 300,000 employees worldwide.”

The message was sent ahead of Costco’s annual shareholder meeting scheduled for Jan. 23, 2025.

Shareholders will vote on a proposal brought by the National Center for Public Policy Research that challenges the legality of Costco’s DEI program after the Supreme Court’s decision in SFFA v. Harvard that racial discrimination in college admissions violates the 14th Equal Protection Clause. Amendment.

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The motion outlines how attorneys general of 13 states have warned Fortune 100 companies that the decision affects the companies’ DEI programs, and many lawsuits have been filed.

Companies that have rolled back DEI commitments and/or fired employees from DEI departments include Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, Zoom and John Deere, the proposal says, although Costco’s board says Microsoft later clarified that it has eliminated two redundant DEI roles, however. its focus on diversity and inclusion “remains unwavering.”

“Yet Costco still has such a program, although it was timid enough to recognize this as it recently changed and rebranded its DEI program to ‘For People and Communities,'” the National Center for Public Policy Research wrote in its shareholder proposal. “But putting a new label on discriminatory practices does not protect Costco and its shareholders from these risks.”

The organization criticized that Costco’s rebranded program still clearly outlines an “equity obligation,” which they say means equality of outcome, not opportunity — and that the company still employs a “Chief Diversity Officer,” still has a supplier diversity program that selects suppliers. based on their race and gender, still seems to include race and gender in hiring and promotion “and we still donate shareholder money to organizations that promote discrimination. DEI’s agenda.”

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“With 310,000 employees, Costco has approximately 200,000 employees who may be victims of this type of unlawful discrimination because they are white, Asian, male or straight,” the motion said. “Accordingly, even if only a fraction of those workers could have applied, and only some of those were successful, the cost to Costco would be tens of billions of dollars.”

Despite the Supreme Court’s decision, Costco’s board of directors asserted that its DEI practices are “legally appropriate, and nothing in the proposal indicates otherwise.” The board also said the National Center for Public Policy Research’s request for a study of Costco’s DEI practices “shows policy bias” and threatens to overburden the company’s resources.

Citing the district court’s 2023 decision, the board argued that “the broader agenda of the National Center for Public Policy Research is not risk reduction for the Company but the elimination of diversity programs.” The board says the agency continues to “promote stocks,” noting how the National Center for Public Policy Research has expressed a commitment to “fighting” the “evils of money and politically motivated corporations.”

“We welcome members from all walks of life and backgrounds. As our membership is diverse, we believe that working with a diverse group of employees improves satisfaction,” Costco’s board wrote, defending DEI’s practices. “Having our diverse suppliers, including a focus on small businesses, is beneficial for many of the same reasons diversity benefits our Company. We believe it fosters creativity and innovation in the products and services we offer our members.”

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Fox News Digital has reached out to Costco and the National Center for Public Policy Research for additional comment.