View Wal-Mart Resolution

City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr., on behalf of the New York City Employees’ Retirement System, is calling on Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. to address the “social and reputational” impact by fully informing shareholders about its labor standards.

Thompson filed a shareholder resolution calling on the company’s Board of Directors to issue a report “on the negative social and reputational impacts of reported and known cases of management non-compliance with International Labor Organization (ILO) conventions and standards on workers’ rights and the company’s legal and regulatory controls.”

The report – to be filed by September 2007 - should include the Board’s actions and recommendations to improve compliance.

“Investors, consumers and civil society increasingly are demanding that companies adopt good governance policies to promote sustainable business development, which includes the protection of human rights, process transparency, and disclosure of compliance by directors and management,” Thompson said. “Companies that do not incorporate such non-financial factors in their indicators of success could fail to win the support of investors, consumers and other stakeholders.”

The New York City Employees’ Retirement System, or NYCERS, holds 2,953,214 Wal-Mart shares valued at $138,086,972.

Thompson, in the resolution, detailed efforts across the country to either stop Wal-Mart Stores, headquartered in Bentonville, AR, from setting up operations or to prompt the company to pay higher wages and benefits to its employees.

The measure points to court rulings and settlements aimed at improving treatment of workers in Pennsylvania and Colorado, and cites a Wal-Mart Stores-sanctioned study that found that as much as 8 percent of the company’s customers have stopped shopping at its stores because of its reputation.

In June 2006, Investment & Pensions Europe reported that the Norwegian Government Pension Fund – Global investment universe excluded Wal-Mart Stores because of alleged serious and systemic human rights violations.

“I am proud that NYCERS is taking this stand for worker’s rights. New York City should be a national leader in the fight for fair labor standards,” said New York City Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum. “Companies that do not take sufficient steps to ensure their workers are treated properly do not deserve our workers’ pension funds.”

“Responsible governance practices and compliance with legal standards translate into sustained positive business outcomes that benefit the investor, consumer and economy,” added Borough President Scott Stringer. “Companies as pervasive and high profile as Wal-Mart must build responsible policies and practices and make them publicly available in order to garner investment and support from stakeholders and consumers.”

“As a member of the Board of Trustees of NYCERS, I support Comptroller Thompson’s and the Fund’s resolution calling on Wal-Mart to do what is just, fair and sensible,” said Queens Borough President Helen Marshall.

Thompson serves on the NYCERS Board of Trustees with: Department of Finance Commissioner Martha E. Stark; New York City Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum; Borough Presidents Scott Stringer (Manhattan), Helen Marshall (Queens), Marty Markowitz (Brooklyn), Adolfo Carrion (Bronx), and James Molinaro (Staten Island); Lillian Roberts, Executive Director, District Council 37, AFSCME; Roger Toussaint, President Transport Workers Union Local 100; and, Carroll (Carl) Haynes, President, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 237.

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