April 5, 1999
Mr. David Glass, CEO
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
702 SW 8th Street
Bentonville, Arkansas 72716
Dear Mr. Glass,
We, the undersigned, are shareholders of Wal-Mart, concerned citizens and consumers who believe that the globalization of the economy places new obligations in justice on all corporations. This new context requires Wal-Mart to promote positive corporate social responsibility consistent with the responsibility to sustain the human community and all creation.
The unparalleled growth of Wal-Mart as an aggressive and competitive global retailer raises serious concerns that the company’s strategic vision to achieve success in the marketplace comes without an ethical standard of measurement on which to base decisions about the company’s support of human rights, a living wage for employees world-wide, a diverse work force with attainable upward mobility in management, respect for Indigenous rights, environmental improvement and transparency, and a commitment to sustainable communities in its service areas. The globalization of the economy has heightened already fierce competition, both here in the U.S. and especially in developing countries, to produce for less and sell for less, at the expense of meeting the basic needs of peoples and communities.
We believe that the community rather than the economy is the starting point of economic life. For the community to be sustainable, all members must be recognized--consumers, employees, shareholders, the community-at-large and corporations. We evaluate Wal-Mart’s performance not only on its financial return but also on how it contributes to sustainable community and the dignity of the human person. We are, therefore, deeply concerned about the company’s role in the global marketplace in the following ways.
As the largest retail company in the world with more than 3,400 stores worldwide and reported sales in 1997 of $118 billion, employing more that 910,000 people, Wal-Mart must act responsibly in every community where it operates. The company has created centers of commerce in many communities in the U.S., Latin America, Asia and Europe, but it has failed to operate out of a strategic plan which respects the role of small businesses in maintaining jobs and respects the cultural heritage of communities. We are very disturbed by the company’s insensitivity to the American Indian community by building stores over sacred burial grounds, as in the case of Charlotte Pike, Nashville, Tennessee. We call on the company to make a commitment to work constructively with local and regional communities in assessing Wal-Mart’s economic and social impact and to support structures which enable persons to participate in decisions that affect their lives. We call on the company to stop building stores on American Indian sacred burial grounds.
Socially responsible shareholders have challenged Wal-Mart to become a company that cares about diversity, affirmative action and the creation of well-paying jobs for people of color and women. While the company has implemented some diversity programs, it has not taken certain critical good faith steps. It has declined to join hundreds of other companies in disclosing pertinent information about diversity to the public. We call on Wal-Mart to report to the public its EEO information, its steps to implement the U.S. Department of Labor Glass Ceiling Report’s recommendations and to end the use of negative images of American Indian peoples on the products it sells.
We further believe that as Wal-Mart aggressively moves into new arenas globally, the company faces the challenge of ensuring that its manufacturers, suppliers and subcontractors are in compliance with Wal-Mart’s Standards for Vendor Partners. Wal-Mart’s record in meeting this challenge is disappointing. The company requires its manufacturers to adhere to Wal-Mart’s standards but Wal-Mart has refused to monitor its subcontractors. That is not enough. This leaves the door open for potential abuses by thousands of Wal-Mart subcontractors of worker rights, the use of illegal child labor, firing workers who attempt to form a union or paying poverty-level wages.
We are concerned that Wal-Mart is one of eighteen companies named in a law suit (January 13, 1999) alleging labor violations in the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. Commonwealth where the Department of Labor has documented labor abuses. We call on Wal-Mart to work with its contractors to pay a sustainable living wage so workers can meet their basic needs, to eliminate illegal child labor, to affirm the internationally recognized worker rights to associate freely and bargain collectively in order to obtain a measure of justice and improvement of their work environment and to utilize independent monitors made up of respected local religious and human rights organizations.
Wal-Mart has been commended for its donations to charitable organizations and has been named by Fortune Magazine as the best discount retail employer in the United States. While we believe companies should give back to their communities and design employee-friendly work environments, we are troubled by Wal-Mart’s lack of internal guidelines for global sustainable economic development and a strategic vision. When religious and socially responsible shareholders have raised these concerns through dialogue and filing shareholder resolutions, the company has not been responsive.
We call upon Wal-Mart to develop a strategic vision that includes objectives committing the company to 1) exert leadership in community relations in all locales where it has stores; 2) participate in diversity programs and public disclosure regarding these objectives; 3) establish policies on Indigenous issues along with Indigenous leaders; 4) environmental improvement and transparency in accordance with the CERES Principles; 5) pay wages that enable their employees and employees of their vendors to meet their basic needs and provide some discretionary income; and 6) effectively monitor and implement an independent monitoring process for its supplier plants to eliminate sweatshop conditions.
The company has been successful in building stores but not building community; in providing low prices to consumers but not in assuring them that the products are made under fair labor standards; in charity but not justice for the thousands of workers who contribute to Wal-Mart products but have few benefits and low wages. We challenge Wal-Mart to place its vast human and financial resources at the service of sustainable development and support for the human rights of workers of all races who have played a major role in Wal-Mart’s success. We believe programs built around a strategic sustainable economic development vision will help to establish Wal-Mart as a socially responsible company--a company that cares about the dignity of every human being and the development of sustainable communities worldwide.
We call upon Wal-Mart to work constructively with socially responsible shareholders and other concerned groups in developing this strategic vision. We believe it will benefit Wal-Mart, its employees and the communities it seeks to serve.
Signed,
Mr. Stephen J. Dillenburg
Scudder Kemper Investment*
Cincinnati, OH
Mr. Stuart Appelbaum, President
Retail, Wholesale and Department
Store Union, AFL-CIO, CLC
New York, NY
Ms. Maude Barlow, National Chairperson
The Council of Canadians
Ottawa, ON
Ms. Nikki Bas, Program Coordinator
Sweatshop Watch
Oakland, CA
Ms. Medea Benjamin, Executive Director
Global Exchange
San Francisco, CA
Mr. Brent Blackwelder, President
Friends of the Earth
Washington, DC
Ms. Kim Bobo, Executive Director
National Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice
Chicago, IL
Sr. Dolores Brooks
Illinois Coalition for Responsible Investments
Chicago, IL
Mr. Gary Brouse, Board Member
American Indian Council
New York, NY
Mr. Garrett D. Brown, Coordinator
Maquiladora Health & Safety Support Network
Berkeley, CA
Ms. Sammy Toinetta, Director
National Council of Churches of Christ
Racial Justice Working Group
New York, NY
Sr. Patricia Daly
Tri-State Coalition for Responsible Investments
Newton, NJ
Mr. Jay Mazur, President
Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE)
New York, NY
Mr. Timothy Smith, Executive Director
Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility
New York, NY
Rev. B. R. Mitchell, Jr.
National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.
Savannah, GA
Mr. Jonathan Cohen
United Nations Association-USA
New York, NY
Ms. Amy Domini
Domini Social Investments LLC
Boston, MA
Ms. Christine Doyle, Research Coordinator
Amnesty International USA
New York, NY
Ms. Linda Golodner, President
National Consumers League
Washington, DC
*for identification purposes only (Partial list)
Ms. Alisa Gravitz, President
Co-op America
Washington, DC
Rev. Pharis Harvey, Executive Director International Labor Rights Fund
Washington, DC
Mr. James Silk, Director
Robert F. Kennedy Memorial
Center for Human Rights
Washington, DC
Ms. Cheryl Hammond Hopewell
American Friends Service Committee
Philadelphia, PA
Mr. Daniel Hennefeld
Harvard Progressive Student Labor Movement
Cambridge, MA
Msgr. John Egan
De Paul University*
Chicago, IL
Mr. James E. Hug, Executive Director
Center of Concern
Washington, DC
Mr. Stephen Coats, Executive Director
US/Labor Education in the Americas Project
Chicago, IL
Mr. Ralph Estes, Director
The Stakeholder Alliance
Washington, DC
Sr. Ruth Kuhn, SC
Region VI, Committee for
Responsible Investing
Cincinnati, OH
Ms. Donna Katzin, Executive Director
Shared Interest*
New York, NY
Ms. Cynthia Ann Kent, Board Member
American Indian Council on Corporate
and Institutional Accountability
New York, NY
Mr. Charles Kernaghan, Executive Director
National Labor Committee
New York, NY
Ms. Anne Marshall
United Methodist Church,Ecumenical Office
New York, NY
Rev. Douglas B. Hunt, UN Representative
United Church of Christ Network for
Environmental and Economic Responsibility
Wheaton, MD
Dr. Kellie A. McElhaney
University of Michigan Business School
Ann Arbor, MI
Sr. Susan Mika, President
Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras
San Antonio, TX
Mr. Samuel Pierce
Citizens Funds
Portsmouth, NH
Ms. Kate Pfordresher, Executive Director
People of Faith Network
Brooklyn, NY
Ms. Debra B. Ryker
Foundation For Deep Ecology
San Francisco, CA
Mr. Steven J. Schueth
Socially Aware Investing
Boulder, CO
Mr. Stephen J. Siegel
Responsible Planning and Investing
Pikesville, MD
Dr. Mark Taylor
Princeton Theological Seminary
Princeton, NJ
Sr. Kathy Thornton, RSM
Network
Washington, DC
Mr. Stephen Viederman, President
Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation*
New York, NY 10016
Dr. James P. Walsh
University of Michigan Business School
Ann Arbor, MI
Mr. Jace Weaver, Associate Professor
Yale University*
New Haven, CT
Rev. George W. Webber, President Emeritus
New York Theological Seminary*
New York, NY
Ms. Heather White, Executive Director
Verité
Amherst, MA
Rev. Seamus Finn
Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate
Washington, DC
Mr. Wayne Alt
Western New York Peace Center
Buffalo, NY
Sr. Vicki Bergkamp
Adorers of the Blood of Christ
Wichita, KS
Peter Beaton
Congregation of St. Basil
Toronto, Canada
Sr. Shirley Bell
Ancilla Domini Sisters*
Donaldson, IN
Ms. Melissa Bernardin
Campbell, CA
Sr. Barbara Bowers
School Sisters of Notre Dame
Berwyn, IL
Ms. Shanna Branciforte
LeRoy, NY
Mr. Jack A Brill
Natural Investment Services Inc
San Diego, CA
Ms. Deborah Brown
New York, NY
Mr. Hunter Brownlie
Progressive Asset Management, Inc.
Newmarket, NH
Sr. Patricia Burkard, OSF
Sisters of St. Francis
Williamsville, NY
Ms. Trudy Brubaker
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Pittsburgh, PA 15237
Mr. Charles Carney
8th Day Center for Justice*
Chicago, IL
Sr. Genevieve Cassani, SSND
Mission Effectiveness*
St. Louis, MO
Mr. John Chevedden
Redondo Beach, CA
Mr. Thomas A. Choquette
Office of Social Action
Cincinnati, OH
Ms. Cynthia Chovan
Brooklyn, NY
Sr. Mary Martin Colbert
8th Day Center for Justice*
Chicago, IL
Sr. Rosemary Connell, CSJ
Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet,
St. Louis Province
St. Louis, MO
Ms. Joy Crissey
Colorado State University*
Ft. Collins, CO
Guy Cyr
Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate
Sainte-Foy, Quebec
Mr. Patrick De Freitas
Laird Norton Endowment Fund
Seattle, WA
Sr. Kathleen Desautels
Sisters of Providence*
Chicago, IL
Fr. John Dister, SJ
Detroit Province of the Society of Jesus
Detroit, MI
Sr. Kathleen Donnelly, SU
Sisters of Ursula*
Rhinebeck, NY
Mr. Daniel P. Driscoll-Shaw
Chicago Religious Leadership Network
on Latin America
Chicago, IL
Mr. Xav Dubois
Kenwood Solutions Group
San Francisco, CA
Catherine Eairbairn
GSIC*
Ottawa, Canada
Mr. Matthew Eddy, Seminarians for Social Change, Princeton Seminary
Princeton, NJ
Sr. Sylvia Egan
SSM*
Omro, WI 54963
Eighth Day Center for Justice
Chicago, IL
Mr. James Facette
Marianists Province of St. Louis
San Antonio, TX
Sr. Nancy Finneran
Sisters of Loretto
New York, NY
Ms. Mary Ann Gaido
St. Joseph Health System
Orange, CA
Ms. Kathryn ‘Kage’ Garramone
FAFN
Newton, NJ
Ms. Jeanne Gauna
South West Organizing Project
Albuquerque, NM
Sr. Margaret Gillis
Sisters of Saint Martha, Antigonish
Antigonish, Canada
Sr. Mary Ellen Gondeck, SSJ
Sisters of St. Joseph, Nazareth, MI*
Madison Heights, MI
Sr. Doris Gormley, OSF
Srs. of St. Francis of Philadelphia
Aston, PA
A. Groleau
Missionary Oblates-Grandin Province
Edmonton, Canada
Mr. Paul E. Hansen
Redmptorists Edmonton-Toronto
Toronto, Canada
Sr. Barbara Jean Head
St. Joseph Female Ursuline
Maple Mount, KY
Ms. Marrianne Holec
Westmoreland, NH
Ms. Michele Holt-Shannon
Coordinator of Educational Outreach
University of New Hampshire
Dover, NH
Mr. Troy Horton
Walnut Street Securities Inc.
Birkenfeld, Oregon
Sr. Joetta Huelsmann
Ancilla Domini Sisters
Donaldson, IN
Ms. Debie Barker
International Forum on Globalization
San Francisco, CA
Sr. Rose Jochmann
Sisters of St. Francis of the Holy Cross
Green Bay, WI
Sr. Susan Jordan
Social Responsibility Representative,
School Sisters of Notre Dame
Cooperative Investment Fund
St. Louis, MO
Mr. Thomas Joyce
CLARETIAN—Justice & Peace Committee
Chicago, IL
Rev. Gordon Judd, CSB
Sisters of Mercy Regional, Community of Detroit
Farmington Hills, MI
Dr. and Mrs. John Kamerick
Sarasota, FL
Sr. Ann Kasparek
Sisters of Mary Reparatrix
Riverview, MI
Mr. Robert J. Knueven
Glenmary Home Missioners
Cincinnati, OH
Mr. John Kornet
Brockhouse & Cooper International
Boston, MA
Ms. Kristen Lacijan
Somerville, MA
Rev. Joseph P. La Mar, MM
Maryknoll Fathers & Brothers
Maryknoll, NY
Ms. Deborah S. Lavine
NorthStar Asset Management
Boston, MA
Ms. Geraldine Lawrence
Sedona, AZ
Fr. Claude Lenehan
Franciscans HNP
Paterson, NJ
Mr. Conrad MacKerron
As You Sow Foundation
San Francisco, CA
Mr. Jim Madden
Progressive Investment Management
Portland, OR
Ms. Suzanne Madden
San Francisco, CA
Rev. Jeff Malpiede, CM
Congregation of the Mission
Southern Province
San Antonio, TX
Sr. Grace Martin, CND
Congregation of Notre Dame
Toronto, Canada
Ms. Mary Ellen McDonagh
8th Day Center for Justice*
Chicago, IL
Mrs. Deanne and Mr. Byron McKeown
Sedona, AZ
Ms. Lesley McKeown
Sedona, AZ
Mr. Sean and Mrs. Wendy McKeown
Phoenix, AZ
Sr. Anna McNally
Sisters of Service
Toronto, Canada
Mr. James McRitchie
Corporate Governance
Sacramento, CA
Stephanie Merters, ASC
ASC Peace and Justice Office
Red Bud, IL
Ms. Alicia Nebot
United Church Board for World Ministries
New York, NY
Ms. Nora Ng
Piper Jaffray
San Francisco, CA
Mr. Henri E. Norris
New Millennia Films
San Francisco, CA
Mr. Lincoln Pain
Berkeley, CA
Sr. Cecile Paulik
Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother*
Brown Deer, WI
Sr. Jean Phelan, SSND
School Sisters of Notre Dame, Chicago
Berwyn, IL
Mr. Jak Plihal
Springboard Consulting Group
San Francisco, CA
Sr. Lucy Regalado
Our Lady of Victory Missionary Sisters
Huntington, IN
Sr. Eileen Reilly, SSND
School Sisters of Notre Dame
Wilton, CT
Ms. Suzan Revah
San Francisco, CA
Sr. Ruth Rosenbaum
Center for Reflection, Education and Action
Hartford, CT
Ms. Cathy Rowan
Maryknoll Mission Association of the Faithful
Maryknoll, NY
Sr. Regina Rowan, MM
Medical Mission Sisters
Hyde Park, MA
Mr. Charles Sandmel
Brookline, MA
Ms. Nicole Santistevan,
UNFP
New York, NY
Sr. Joellen Sbrissa, CSJ
Sisters of St. Joseph of LaGrange
LaGrange, IL
Ms. Amy Scott
The Exploratorium*
San Francisco, CA
Ms. JoAnn Schoonmaker Allen
San Antonio, TX
Mr. Larry & Mrs. Pati Garcia Semander
San Antonio, TX
Ms. Catherine Seymor
Clarks Summit, PA
Mr. Eric A. Smith
Seattle, WA
Neal Smith
Sisters of St. Benedict
Madison, WI
Ms. Margaret Stallmeyer
Congregation of Divine Providence
Melbourne, KY
William Steiner
Put Investor*
Great Neck, NY
Sr. Nancy Sylvester, IHM
Sisters of Immaculate Heart of Mary
Monroe, MI
Ms. Anne Taylor
Ottawa, Canada
Ms. Tamsin Taylor
Laird Norton Trust
Seattle, WA
Sr. C. Turcotte
Grey Sisters of the Immaculate Conception*
Pembroke, Canada
Rev. John H. Vaughn
The Riverside Church*
New York, NY
Mr. Nathan Walker
Campbell, CA
Sr. Ann Walters, OP
Grand Rapids Dominicans
Grand Rapids, MI
Mr. Leonard J. Weber
Ethics Institute University of Detroit Mercy
Detroit, MI
Ms. Marianne Weil
Equality Project
Orient, NY
Larry Weiss
Resource Center of the Americas
Minneapolis, MN
Adrian Dominicans
Sr. Rosemary Asaro, OP
Detroit, MI
Sr. Judith Benkert, OP, CNM, FNP
San Francisco, CA
Sr. Mary-beth Beres, OP
Atlanta, GA
Sr. Rosalie Bulanda, OP
Jackson, MS
Sr. Anita Chiappetta, OP
Ann Arbor, MI
Sr. Joan Christie, OP
Trenton, MI
Sr. Mary Jane Clark, OP
Marina, CA
Sr. Maureen Comer, OP
Adrian, MI
Sr. Vicki Dalesandro, OP
Henderson, NV
Sr. Catherine DeClereq, OP
Southfield, MI
Sr. Joan Delaplane, OP
University City, MO
Sr. Carol DiMarcello
Adrian, MI
Sr. Magdalena Ezoc, OP
Adrian, MI
Sr. Durstyne Farnan, OP
Adrian, MI
Sr. Maureen Fenlon, OP
Petaluma, CA
Sr. Corinne Florck, Op
Oakland, CA
Sr. Juliann Flynn, OP
Homewood, IL
Sr. Margaret Foley, OP
Adrian, MI
Sr. Marilyn Foster, OP
Port Huron, MI
Sr. Judy Fridel, OP
Rocky River, OH
Sr. Molly Giller, OP
Adrian, MI
Sr. Therese Grouln, OP
Adrian, MI
Sr. Therese M. Haggerty, OP
Adrian, MI
Sr. Maribeth Howell
Lyndburst, OH
Sr. Jeanette Jabour, OP
Cincinnati, OH
Sr. Myra Jackson, OP
Miami, FL
Sr. Maureen Keeler, OP
San Diego, CA
Deborah Keller
St. Joseph Academy Montessori
Children’s House
Sr. Donna Kathleen Kustusch, OP
El Paso, TX
Sr. Thomas Josephine Lawler, OP
Los Angeles, CA
Sr. Anne R. Lawrence
Ann Arbor, MI
Anne R. Laurance
Ann Arbor, MI
Sr. Elaine Lederer, OP
Chicago, IL
Sr. Pat Leonard, OP
Oak Park, IL
Sr. Frances Lombar, OP
Adrian, MI
Sr. Mary Ann Lubinski, OP
Atlanta, GA
Sr. Mary Ann Luby, OP
Washington, DC
Sr. Carleen Maly, OP
West Palm Beach, FL
Sr. Kathleen Manning, OP
Clayton, MI
Sr. Brigid McDonald, OP
Santa Cruz, CA
Sr. Patricia McDonald, OP
Saint Clair Shores, MI
Sr. Sharon McGuire, OP, MSN
University of San Diego
School of Nursing and Health Science
San Diego, CA
Sr. Kathleen McGrail, OP
Adrian, MI
Sr. Noreen McKeorgh, OP
Adrian, MI
Sr. Geraldine McNamara, OP
Santa Cruz, CA
Sr. Aneesah McNamee, OP
Adrian, MI
Sr. Joella Miller, OP
Oak Lawn, IL
Bettina Mollica, OP
Columbus, OH
Sr. Evelyn I. Montez, OP
Oakland, CA
Sr. Mary Catheine Nolan, OP
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN
Sr. Rose C. O’Connell, OP
Adrian, MI
Sr. Patricia O’Reilly
Adrian, MI
Sr. Jane Payette, OP
Southfield, MI
Sr. Mary Ann Phillip, OP
North Olmsted, OH
Sr. Patricia Reno, OP
Louisville, KY
Sr. Judy Rimbey, OP
Hayward, CA
Sr. Terese M. Roberts, OP