Iowa AG Brenna Bird and Costco have recently met over the company's DEI policies, AG and another person familiar say
Bird and 18 other AGs urged the retailer to drop its DEI hiring practices
The Republican-led state attorneys said the policies were 'unlawful discrimination'
Adds background on other companies' DEI programs, Costco employee base
By Isla Binnie
NEW YORK, April 8 (Reuters) - Costco has had productive discussions with Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird over the retailer's diversity policies amid a legal onslaught against those programs launched by President Donald Trump, according to Bird's office and another person familiar with the talks.
Bird and 18 other GOP state attorneys general urged Costco COST.O Chief Executive Ron Vachris in a letter in January to end what they described as "unlawful discrimination ... through diversity, equity and inclusion ("DEI") policies".
Since then, Bird, a co-leader of the letter, and the company have had constructive discussions about its DEI hiring practices that have not previously been reported, according to the person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because the talks are private.
"Attorney General Bird had a productive meeting with Costco, where the company reaffirmed its commitment to not discriminating based on race," the Iowa attorney general's communications director Alyssa Brouillet said in a statement to Reuters.
Costco did not immediately return a request for comment outside of regular business hours.
The attorneys general sent their letter about a week after Trump ordered law enforcement agencies to identify companies and groups that could be investigated for their DEI policies, which proliferated alongside growing momentum in the Black Lives Matter Movement in 2020.
It also followed a shareholder meeting at which 98% of Costco shareholders voted against a proposal by a conservative think tank that requested it to prepare a report on the risks posed by the initiatives. The company's board had unanimously recommended a vote against the proposal.
Meta Platforms META.O, Amazon.com AMZN.O and JPMorgan Chase JPM.N have modified their diversity initiatives or public statements on the matter as conservative opposition has grown.
Costco is a membership-only retailer with more than 300,000 employees globally, about 219,000 of whom are in the United States, according to its 2024 annual report.
(Reporting by Isla Binnie; Editing by Dawn Kopecki and Jamie Freed)
((isla.binnie@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging: isla.binnie.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))