CNS STORY: Religious investors ask Wal-Mart to review social, economic policies

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CNS Story:

INVEST-WALMART May-23-2005 (720 words) xxxn

Religious investors ask Wal-Mart to review social, economic policies

By Tracy Early
Catholic News Service

NEW YORK (CNS) -- A group of religious orders and other investors is asking the retail giant Wal-Mart to assess the company's policies and practices in light of their "social, environmental and economic sustainability."

A resolution filed for shareholder action said Wal-Mart, which will hold its annual stockholder meeting June 3 in Fayetteville, Ark., is facing widespread "negative public perceptions" about its operations.

"Wal-Mart's business success is dependent on its domestic and global workers receiving a sustainable living wage to meet their basic needs, and the environmental viability of the communities in which the company operates," the resolution added.

The Shareholder Association for Research and Education, an agency based in Vancouver, British Columbia, said in a report earlier this month that Wal-Mart activity had drawn concern in Canada as well as the United States. The agency helps pension funds build sound investment practices that protect beneficiaries but also contribute to a "just and healthy society."

In reaction to union organizing efforts, Wal-Mart closed a store in Quebec after "a short round of negotiations" with "the chain's first North American unionized bargaining unit," the report said.

"The danger for shareholders is that some cost controls could undermine key relationships with employees, customers, suppliers and communities," according to the agency's director, Peter Chapman.

For the Wal-Mart resolution, the lead filer is the United Methodist Board of Pension & Health Benefits, and co-filers include the Dominican Sisters of Adrian, Mich., the School Sisters of Notre Dame, Sisters of Charity, Benedictine Sisters, Congregation of the Holy Cross, Presbyterian Church, Unitarian Universalist Service Committee and a Vancouver agency, Ethical Funds.

According to the Shareholder agency, Wal-Mart has asked shareholders to vote against the resolution. The company said it plans to prepare a report like the one requested but wants to do it "only in the form and at the time that is in the best interests of the company and its associates and the communities and customers we serve."

Religious investors also filed resolutions with Wal-Mart this year on equal employment and on the sale of violent video games to children.

Wal-Mart is not alone in drawing the attention of the church-related investors, but is only one of dozens of companies that are being challenged in stockholder resolutions.

For example, as ExxonMobil moved toward its annual meeting in Dallas May 25, it was facing resolutions filed by church-related groups on global warming and on the qualifications of its directors.

Most of this activity is coordinated by the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, a New York agency headed by Mercy Sister Patricia Wolf.

In a press release May 19, the center reported that it "has had a very successful shareholder meeting season so far."

The center says it represents groups with investments of more than $100 billion of pension, endowment and reserve funds.

Although substantial, their members' stock holdings do not enable them to win votes at stockholder meetings. But they believe their efforts in forcing attention to issues and entering into dialogue with management have a positive effect over time.

As an example of success this year, the center reported that the Ford Motor Company had agreed to "analyze climate change and report on its economic impact."

Christian Brothers Investment Services, a New York agency that provides investment advice to a number of religious orders and other Catholic investors, reported May 19 that successful negotiations with Best Buy Company had led it to withdraw a resolution it had filed on the sale of violent video games to children.

"The company has agreed to publicly outline what may be the toughest policy introduced by a major American retailer to restrict the sale of mature-rated video games to children and teens," the report said.

Co-filers of the Christian Brothers' resolution included the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, the Adrian Dominican Sisters and Trinity Health, an agency formed by a merger of health care facilities of Holy Cross and Mercy nuns and based in Novi, Mich.

Christian Brothers also announced May 20 that the New York League of Conservation Voters had honored it the previous evening for its efforts to encourage companies to follow environmentally responsible policies.

"As a leading proponent of the 'green dollar,' Christian Brothers Investment Services is positively achieving environmental change through socially responsible investing," said the league's director, Marcia Bystryn.

END

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