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politics·politics byjballs

Republican state attorneys pressure Costco to drop diversity policies

Nineteen Republican attorneys general have called on Costco Wholesale to abandon its diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, citing concerns about about discrimination and legal risks

This comes after 98% of the U.S. retailer's shareholders last week voted against a proposal requesting a report on the risks tied to its diversity and inclusion initiatives, pushing back against the growing scrutiny such policies face.

https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/society-equity/republican-state-attorneys-pressure-costco-drop-diversity-policies-2025-01-28/Open linkView original on sh.itjust.works
fedia.io

What happened to "private businesses can operate however they like within the law"?

Ohhhh ... law. That was canceled.

206

The same thing that happened to states rights. It was never the issue it's just convenient cover for stupid people.

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sh.itjust.works

Gotta love the party of "small government". Not only is it small enough to fit in your bedroom, apparently it's also small enough to fit in your grocery store's HR department.

181

They're not a small government .... they're becoming a huge fascist state apparatus

40

They care when businesses want to discriminate by pushing for their 'right' to be racists and bigots.

They care when businesses treat people with respect, because that goes against the Republican platform for supporting racism and bigotry.

21
qupadareply
fedia.io

Sadly, as a traded company they would appear to have to at least respond to a "but but but muh shareholders!" argument, no matter the source (or how pathetic it is).

It's not that they seemingly can't (rightly) tell them to piss off, but it probably has to be done a lot more carefully.

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FuglyDuckreply
lemmy.world

98% of their shareholders rejected the bid.

So. Uhm. that's not a valid argument.

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qupadareply
fedia.io

That wasn't my point, even remotely.

It was rather that they likely can't just ignore this bullshit and carry on doing the right thing, no matter how much they should.

1
FuglyDuckreply
lemmy.world

They already did. By taking the vote. In which 98% of shareholders rejected the measure. They then replied to that effect.

7

They’re saying that protecting their shareholders means not telling the state AG’s to fuck off, and approaching the stupidity as if it’s a serious threat to their business from these despotic chucklefucks.

Stupid or not, the AG’s wield power that can harm Costco, and by extension, their shareholders.

Edit: Completing the thought - Which is to say. They should politely and legally tell them to fuck off.

5

These are the same people that flipped out over a gay couple upset a private bakery didn't want to bake them a wedding cake. ,🙄

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slrpnk.net

Republicans when a private business decides to poison a local water source: *crickets*

Republicans when a private business decides to operate an inclusive workplace: WE MUST STOP THIS EVIL!

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Republicans when a private business decides to deny cakes to same sex couples: WE MUST SUPPORT THIS EVIL!

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ALQ
lemmy.world

Fucking disgraceful excuses for human beings. These people literally had to take time and energy out of their day to tell a private company, "stop treating different people as equals or (implied threat of litigation)." It would have taken zero effort for them to do nothing.

Repugnant monsters, the lot of them.

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aaronreply
lemm.ee

You're right, but it's convenient for companies like Costco to hide behind DEI while they pay laborers shit because (in part) the market is driven down by desperate immigrants. These AGs are trash, but Costco LOVES (and models their business after) exploiting low income workers. So fuck Costco as well.

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skulblakareply
sh.itjust.works

That's explicitly false, Costco's minimum starting wage is $18.50 an hour, that's more than twice as much as any other grocer. They have a strong union, give better raises and COL adjustments than any of their competitors, have reasonable shareholders, resist affronts from fascist government that every other company pre-emptively bows to, and has lower prices than other grocers in my area.

This comment is propaganda. Costco is great.

18

Yeah Costco has always been a shining beacon of places my whole town is trying to work at

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fedia.io

I was gifted a membership even though I'd never been there. The fact they stood up and kept their Dei policies encouraged me to shop there this week. I picked up storage shelves too as my kitchen isn't 2000 sqft. And they have a union that feels comfortable enough to stand up for their members. I completely stopped shopping at trader joes because of their anti-union stance and I went there every week for 20 years.

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Catoblepasreply
lemmy.blahaj.zone

Aldi is another winner, if you have one near you. I realize the bar is underground at this point, but I was legitimately impressed when I saw all their cashiers sitting on stools. Literally never seen another grocery store that allows that. Work culture is so deranged.

27

Not sure how widespread it is in Europe, but it's a thing in Germany to let cashiers sit at checkout.

6
lemmy.world

~~Trader Joe's is a subsidiary of Aldi. I'm not sure how that relationship works in regards to labor relations, but if this person wants to avoid Trader Joe's for moral reasons, they might want to avoid Aldi too. ~~

I was wrong, they're different companies that split from the same original company. Thanks for the corrections.

6

From what I understand, there are two German Aldi companies (Aldi Sud and Aldi Nord), and the one that owns Trader Joe's in the US is not the same one that owns Aldi brand stores in the US.

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Trader Joe’s is owned by Aldi Nord, and Aldi US is owned by Aldi Süd. The company split years ago due to family differences around selling tobacco if I remember correctly.

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lemmy.world

Didn't their CEO say he was gonna fight someone over the hotdog prices? Release him, let him loose in the senate.

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The co-founder (Jim Sinegal) told the 'at the time' current CEO (Craig Jelinek) that. Apparently he's still alive so lets do it.

4

The good news is these segregationists have no hoods on. It isn’t much but it’s something to remember. Ken Paxton, Klan attorney.

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lemmy.world

I guarantee you that if Costco and other grocery chains implemented mandatory prayer sessions for their employees, these asshats would finally shut up.

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They never shut up, they just get more and more demanding. After this they'll want all non white employees fired, they'll want all women fired, they'll want any fruit and vegetables they sell to be monitored by a gender advisory group to make sure none of their plant species lacks a binary gender expression. Then they'll demand all the product sold to be gendered male or female, then they'll want a separate store for men and women, then they'll want women who shop they be checked for pregnancy or ovulation.

.

If you've never listened to the people who make these demands, they don't stop screaming. They never stop screaming. They are fever pitch panic salesmen. Once they get their way on anything, they immediately start screaming about something more extreme.

12

I don't think they'd shut up. I think they'd try to force every other business to do the same!

7
thelemmy.club

They are offended by independent business decisions...

Listen, if you don't like it, maybe you will then carry out a racketeering of the company's headquarters and forcibly transfer ownership to your 'buddies' (illegally), as they did in former USSR countries with enterprises, factories, metal manufacturing/energy/raw materials infrastructure which were squeezed out by criminals (linked to oligarchs)? Oh, it is better not to give them any ideas.

It seems like US government now completely filled with psychopaths/narcissists, they just don’t respect the boundaries of people

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