Shopping Chain Costco Reaffirms Support for DEI as Most Companies Abandon Such Policies

The shopping center chain Costco has rejected an attempt to abandon its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies, even as most other major companies have dropped such policies amid growing public backlash.

According to the Daily Caller, Costco has been pleading with shareholders to vote against a proposal to limit the company’s “discriminatory” DEI practices. The National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR) demanded that Costco release a report on the risks that the retailer could face if it does not reverse or eliminate the DEI initiatives.

“It’s clear that DEI holds litigation, reputational and financial risks to the Company, and therefore financial risks to shareholders,” the proposal reads. “And yet Costco still has such a program, though it was apprehensive enough to recognize this as it recently and quietly rebranded its DEI program to ‘People and Communities.’ But sticking a new label on discriminatory practices does not protect Costco and its shareholders from these risks.”

As the proposal notes, the program still mentions a “commitment to equity,” which means “equality of outcome, not opportunity,” and also maintains the employment of a “Chief Diversity Officer,” whose job is to “pick suppliers based on their race and sex, still appears to factor in race and sex in hiring and promotion, and still contributes shareholder money to organizations that advance the discriminatory agenda of DEI.”

Costco released its own statement on the matter, claiming that “the proponent’s broader agenda is not reducing risk for the Company but abolition of diversity initiatives.”

“Our Board has considered this proposal and believes that our commitment to an enterprise rooted in respect and inclusion is appropriate and necessary,” the statement continued, announcing that the board of directors “unanimously” recommended that the shareholders vote against the anti-DEI measure.

The shareholders’ meeting will take place on January 23rd.

While Costco doubles down on DEI, many other prominent companies have abandoned these policies in the wake of President-elect Donald Trump’s historic re-election victory, which was seen by many as a repudiation of the left-wing agenda, including DEI. Such companies include Walmart, Lowe’s, Harley-Davidson, and American Airlines.