Coalition hits Wal-Mart labor conditions abroad

Christian Century, Feb 21, 2001

A coalition of 38 investors--including a range of religious groups--has filed a shareholder resolution calling on Wal-Mart to improve labor conditions at factories where products for its stores are manufactured.

The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility has spearheaded the effort to encourage Wal-Mart to begin using independent monitors to track how factory workers are treated in such locations as China and Central America. "As U.S. companies import more goods, consumer concern is growing about working conditions in facilities around the world that fall far below basic standards of fair and humane treatment," says the resolution introduced January 23. "Our company purchases products from China, where human rights abuses persist, unfair labor practices occur and low wages are paid."

The shareholders have requested that Wal-Mart's board of directors prepare a report detailing current monitoring practices and plans for independent monitoring programs that would involve religious, labor rights and human rights groups aware of local circumstances. "We hope the top leadership of Wal-Mart will ... make a good faith effort to eliminate abusive labor conditions," said David Schilling, director of the center's Global Corporate Accountability Program. "This can only be effectively done in partnership with credible nongovernmental groups."

Tom Williams, a Wal-Mart spokesman, said in a statement that the company continues to have "serious reservations" about third-party monitoring. "We state emphatically that Wal-Mart has no desire to do business with any factory that is run illegally or unethically," he said. "There are no easy answers to this complex issue. However, we do understand and accept our responsibility in the fight against child labor and human rights abuses."

Signatories to the resolution included Catholic Healthcare West, the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits of the United Methodist Church, the Pension Fund of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and numerous Roman Catholic religious orders. --RNS