The decision by Costco to maintain its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies, in light of Big Business’ onslaught on affirmative action and the Trump administration’s recent executive orders against federal diversity programs, has been seen as a positive development among many in the civil rights and democratic movements.
Corporations including Meta, Target, Walmart, and others are quickly abandoning their DEI policies—with Meta going so far as to, in the words of CEO Mark Zuckerburg, “get rid of a bunch of restrictions on topics like immigration and gender that are just out of touch with mainstream discourse.”
Among the MAGA right, Costco’s decision to go against the tide of corporate diversity rollbacks is drawing ire and leading to calls for a boycott of the warehouse retail chain.
Some civil rights organizations are jumping to the company’s defense. The National Action Network, led by Rev. Al Sharpton, held a “Buy In” at a Costco store in East Harlem on Jan. 25 with around 100 people—a show of support for Costco’s decision. Similar events are planned at Costco stores across the country.
At the same time that the mega-retailer is being praised for its DEI decision, however, its workers preparing for a possible national strike. They’re fighting to protect their right to unionize, win overdue raises from a company swimming in profits, and block a load of unfair labor practices.
The situation is rife with apparent contradictions: Some progressives are cheering for Costco while simultaneously the people who work there are fighting back against exploitation.
But there’s no need to categorize Costco as ally or adversary; labor and progressives can support both the struggle for equality and the fight of Costco workers for better wages and respect on the job.
Attacking equality under the guise of “equality”
The explosion of controversy over DEI in the corporate world and government might seem to have appeared out of nowhere, but reaction has actually been waging its counter-offensive for a while now.
Following the Supreme Court’s decision in 2023 to overturn affirmative action in higher education, the right has since launched a legal assault on DEI initiatives in the workplace as well as sought to eliminate African-American Studies and Gender Studies in publicly-funded education institutions.
Speaking on the decision at the time, dissenting Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor said: “The court cements a superficial rule of colorblindness as a constitutional principle in an endemically segregated society where race has always mattered and continues to matter.”
Under the latest Trump executive orders, federal workers are now mandated to report any coworkers they suspect are secretly advancing DEI initiatives. Workers have received emails warning of potential consequences if they fail to report any co-workers still implementing DEI measures.
Strike For All, an organization founded by former Ohio State Rep. Nina Tuner, plans to call for boycotts on corporations that monetarily support and lobby for policies that hurt working class Americans. Their first boycott campaign is against Target over its elimination of DEI policies and its decision to terminate the initiative of trying to stock their shelves with products from Black-owned small businesses.
The right’s effort to abolish DEI policies is an aspect of the broader “culture wars” which have stretched for decades but returned with a vengeance after 2020. Reactionary targeting operations arose as a response to the Black Lives Matter protests that followed the police murder of George Floyd.
The right argues that DEI promotes preferences for oppressed groups and disparages it as “reverse discrimination” against white Americans, particularly white men. Billionaire Elon Musk, now a prominent voice in the Trump administration and for international fascism, alleges that DEI is “watering down hiring standards.”
America First Legal, a fascistic non-profit organization led by Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff for policy, has filed multiple lawsuits against companies for their alleged “DEI efforts.”
The Trump administration’s attack on DEI is ultimately a cover for eliminating the anti-discrimination enforcement powers of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. This would enable employers to practice racist and sexist job discrimination in hiring, wages, promotions, and working conditions.
Costco faces possible strike, unfair labor practices
So, how does the Costco labor dispute fit into all this? Like the right’s effort to abolish diversity policies, the fight of Costco workers also didn’t just pop up this week. Employees there have been engaged in a struggle against corporate management for months—long before DEI prompted MAGA to put a target on the company.
The company is facing several unfair labor practice charges brought by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The union says the company is violating federal labor law and their national master agreement in a “calculated effort to undermine workers’ rights and disrupt the collective bargaining process.”
The Teamsters’ current contract with Costco ends Jan. 31. It covers 18,000 workers across the country. The Teamsters suspended negotiations in August of last year after Costco refused to support workers’ legal right to unionize by agreeing to a card-check process. The card-check process makes it easier for non-union workers to join the union without facing threats or interference.
Costco is the 11th largest U.S. corporation. It reported $242 billion in revenue and $29.7 billion in annual gross profits in 2023. In negotiations with the Teamsters, Costco has proposed raises of less than 4%, with just $1 in the first year of a new contract. That’s not even enough to buy a Costco hot dog!
“If the workers do walk out on strike Jan. 31, honoring the picket lines will be the most effective way supporters of equality can support that goal,” Joe Henry, a former Teamster leader of the 1997 UPS strike, told People’s World. “Real equality on the job starts with a strong union contract and workers having a say in our workplaces.”
Cementing equality into policy and law
While the mainstream media’s non-stop drumbeat of outrage and division is prompting many to pick a side and praise Costco, what the Teamsters workers there know is that equal treatment and wages on the job is not a gift from management or government—it’s something fought for and won in struggle.
In the 1960s, the Civil Rights Movement scored major advances addressing systemic inequality, racism, and sexism, such as Executive Order 11246 issued by President Lyndon B. Johnson. Signed in 1965, the order prohibited employment discrimination based on “race, color, religion, sex, and national origin by organizations receiving federal contracts and subcontracts.”
Affirmative action utilized the state’s power to force employers to implement the necessary changes. The Civil Rights Movement and labor fought for, and supported, these efforts and considered them necessary in the fight for unity against white supremacy and Big Business’ corporate greed.
The late Gus Hall, former General Secretary of the Communist Party USA, said that “the struggle against inequality is a basic class question simply because not all members of our class live and work under conditions of equality.” Concretely, Hall said, this meant the working class had to fight for affirmative action policies and eliminate the racist wage gaps and hiring practices common in the workplace. It meant winning and protecting the right of all workers to join a union and bargain collectively.
And that brings us back to corporate DEI. In contrast to public policy instituting affirmative action, these private sector initiatives are oftentimes self-regulation or even marketing measures by corporations—symbolic gestures that substitute for substantive action.
The notion that most of the moguls of Big Business have any genuine interest in combating racism and sexism is highly suspect. The speed with which so many companies have thrown their diversity handbooks overboard once Trump gave the green light has proven that. Looking at the big picture, the greater the division and competition within the working class, the more feasible it becomes to exploit all workers at a higher rate and increase corporate profits.
Anything established by management that can be eliminated at their discretion is not an effective means of monitoring bosses and ensuring the enforcement of equality practices. For instance, Costco is not legally bound by its DEI policy, but it is bound by the Teamsters union contract—which could have special equality policies negotiated into it.
In a similar recent example, the non-profit organization Big Green appointed a select group of workers to a “DEI Council” tasked with ensuring accountability in matters of diversity and inclusion. Despite its supposed intentions behind establishing the DEI Council, Big Green’s management vehemently opposed the critiques of the very body they set up. Instead of implementing recommended changes, bosses initiated a retaliation and intimidation campaign against the workers.
Eventually, the Communication Workers of America union intervened and filed unfair labor practice charges on behalf of the targeted workers. Since the workers’ statement was a “concerted expression of their concerns about their employment terms and conditions,” the CWA was able to leverage labor law to prevent Big Green’s retaliation campaign.
“A union contract is the best form of DEI”
Pam Powell, a member of Detroit UAW Local 600 and the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, told People’s World, “A strong union contract offers the protections necessary to give workers a genuine voice on DEI policies for which companies cannot or will not.”
That way, she said, equality measures can be structurally enforced without relying on the whims of management. Equality guarantees cemented in union contracts can win equal pay for equal work, fair standards for promotion and benefits, and promote equity in hiring practices.
Ultimately, equality measures shouldn’t be left up to company promises; they should be enshrined in the union contract and written into law—just like affirmative action policies were in the past.
Costco has more than enough money to maintain its DEI policies and expand them, while also giving fair wage increases, improving working conditions, and honoring the rights of workers to organize collectively.
The situation isn’t either/or. It’s a case of the company needing to put its money where its mouth is and honoring a fair contract for its workers while ALSO maintaining special measures to promote diversity and equality.
As with all news analysis and op-ed articles published by People’s World, this article reflects the views of its authors.
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