A coalition of state officials and business leaders are publicly calling on Fortune 1,000 companies to end their controversial workplace policies.
The letters come as Democrats and Republicans publicly battle over Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policies, including at the country’s biggest companies.
Some companies have rolled back the policies of late.
“The divisive and discriminatory ideology at the root of DEI has caused some of our country’s most prominent companies, like Home Depot, Lowe’s, Ford, and Toyota, to pull back on their DEI programs,” Jeremy Tedesco of the conservative legal group, Alliance Defending Freedom, said in a statement Monday.
Arizona Treasurer Kimberly Yee led one letter, with officials from 15 states calling on businesses to end their DEI policies, which have become increasingly common and controversial and range from simple cautions against racism to full-throated condemnation of whiteness and promotion of transgenderism.
“Surveys have shown that employees have the same negative attitudes toward DEI programs,” the letter said. “For example, the Freedom at Work Survey conducted by Ipsos and released by Viewpoint Diversity Score found that a plurality (40 percent) of employees say DEI divides, rather than unites, colleagues.”
A group of business leaders and investors managing more than $60 billion wrote a similar letter on Friday.
“DEI also punishes dissenting views under the guise of ‘privilege’ and ‘internalized’ racism, sexism, or other ‘isms,’” the letter said. “This replaces rich diversity of thought – the kind of diversity that builds trust and drives innovation – with a single, monolithic approach to workplace culture built on the notion that individuals are nothing more than their group identities.”
The two letters come in response to a letter from 49 House Democrats to the same group of business leaders with the opposite message earlier this month.
U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., led that letter, which scolded business leaders, saying that “a handful of companies announced they are ending programs and practices shown to foster unity and equality” and warning they could lose customers.
“Inclusion is a core American value, and a great business practice,” the letter said. “By embracing this value, you create safer and fairer workplaces without sacrificing quality or financial success. Continual progress towards more equal policies and benefits decreases the risk that anyone – employees and consumers – will experience discrimination, bias, and other threats to their safety and well-being.
Signatories to the most recent letter against DEI came from the following states: Alaska, Arkansas, Idaho, Louisiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, South Carolina, and Utah.
