{"id":18476,"date":"2023-04-20T23:22:48","date_gmt":"2023-04-20T23:22:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/walmart-shareholder-meeting-to\/"},"modified":"2023-04-20T23:24:16","modified_gmt":"2023-04-20T23:24:16","slug":"walmart-shareholder-meeting-to","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/walmart-shareholder-meeting-to\/","title":{"rendered":"Walmart shareholder meeting to hold votes on workplace safety, China risk"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Siddharth Cavale<\/p>\n

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Walmart Inc shareholders will be asked to vote on a number of new proposals including revealing its exposure to China and conducting an independent review of its safety practices related to gun violence at its annual general meeting next month, a securities filing on Thursday showed.<\/p>\n

Investors will have until the end of May 30 to vote on eight shareholder proposals, the company filing said, two more than the number of proposals filed last year.<\/p>\n

The National Legal and Policy Center, a conservative group, urged Walmart to “report annually to shareholders on the nature and extent to which corporate operations depend on, and are vulnerable to, Communist China, which is a serial human rights violator, a geopolitical threat, and an adversary to the United States.” <\/p>\n

The proposal, which termed doing business with China “controversial, if not dangerous,” was similar to its failed proposal at Apple and comes at a time of deteriorating U.S.-China relations – the worst since the countries established diplomatic relations in 1979, according to many analysts. <\/p>\n

Walmart asked shareholders to vote against the proposal, saying it believed the request for an “open-ended” annual report was “unwarranted,” and that it has been transparent in reporting key business risks and following human rights policies.<\/p>\n

Walmart does not break out sales in China, where it operates nearly 400 stores and clubs. It recently noted that it “still thinks it has a lot of runway” in the country.The late Thursday filing also revealed a proposal from a Walmart worker, Cynthia Murray, who asked the company to “conduct a third-party, independent review” of the impact its policies and practices have on workplace violence.<\/p>\n

Murray urged Walmart to review its existing workplace safety plans following a mass shooting incident in November at a store in Chesapeake, Virginia, where seven people were killed. <\/p>\n

Walmart in response said such a report would not help uphold its commitment to protecting the health and safety of its associates and urged shareholders to vote against it. <\/p>\n

The two new proposals are among eight resolutions that challenge Walmart on other issues including reproductive rights and data privacy. But with about 50% of Walmart’s stock controlled by the Walton family, the bar for any effort to win a majority of investor support is high.<\/p>\n

(This story has been corrected to change the number of proposals to 8, not 7, in paragraphs 2 and 10)<\/p>\n

\n

\n

(Reporting by Siddharth Cavale in New York; Editing by Chris Reese and Deepa Babington)<\/p>\n

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