Wal-Mart Shareholders Concerned About Company’s Poor Business Reputation

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.laborradio.org/node/8690

Wal-Mart’s poor business reputation has shareholders in the company concerned. Jesse Russell reports.

As Wal-Mart begins hosting its annual general meeting on June 6, the company could be walking into a firestorm of angry shareholders. The reputation of the company has been eroded over the past decade due to the company’s lack of compliance with labor standards across the globe. The shareholders are concerned with a study that found anywhere from 2 percent to 8 percent of customers have stopped shopping at the world’s largest retailer due to the company’s reputation. Many cities have also introduced or passed “anti-Wal-Mart laws that ban new stores that average the size of the retailer. The company has faced allegations of the use of child labor, forcing employees to work off the clock, and of sexism in pay and promotion opportunities. Most of the shareholders taking on the chain are members of European pensions and are asking the company to create a report that outlines the company’s lack of compliance with the International Labour Organizations conventions. The worldwide company has responded that it only needs to comply with the 14 conventions adopted by the United States.

[BlooInBloo]

1. I actually sympathize with the shareholders somewhat....

This exemplifies the *typical* problem with corporations as they currently exist: That the interests of the *executives* are SOOOO different from the interests of the *shareholders*. If the two interests were the *same* (or at least close to the same), there wouldn't be nearly as much trouble with corps.