ExhibitA
Proposal:
RESOLVED,thattheshareholdersofWalmartInc.(“Walmart”orthe“Company”)hereby request that the Walmart Board of Directors (the “Board”) prepare a report, at reasonable cost and omitting proprietary information, on Walmart’s human rights due diligence (“HRDD”) process to identify, assess, prevent and mitigate actual and potential adverse humanrightsimpactsinitsdomesticandforeignoperationsandsupplychains.
SupportingStatement:
As outlined by the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, we recommend the reportidentify:
• Thehumanrightsprinciplesusedtoframeitsriskassessments;
• The human rights impacts of Walmart’s business activities, including domestic and foreign operationsandsupplychains;
• Thetypesandextentofstakeholderconsultation;and
• The Company’s plans to track effectiveness of measures to assess, prevent, mitigate, and remedy adversehumanrightsimpacts.
We strongly believe that HRDD reduces long-term risks for the Company and its stakeholders. Companies that proactively identify and mitigate human rights abuses may better avoid costly backlash from communities, customers, and government regulators. For leading retailers like Walmart,thiscreatesanimperativenottocauseorcontributetoabuseswithintheirownoperations or supply chains. As one of the largest employers in the United States, Walmart’s business practicesandrelationshipswithsuppliersoperatinginhigh-risksectorscouldexposetheCompany anditsinvestorstolegal,reputational,financialandhumancapitalrisk.
Increased public scrutiny on employers whose employees relyheavily on public assistance,1 and on industries heavily affected by COVID-19 or reliant upon high-risk suppliers magnifies these risks.TheNewYorkTimesreportedonalarmingworkingconditionsforWalmart’sU.S.workers during the pandemic2 and accusations that Walmart punished workers for using sick time.3 The Companywassuedforallegedfailuretoaccommodatepregnantemployees;whilethelawsuitwas dismissed,itseeminglypressuredCongress tointervene.4 AbookprofilingWalmartnotesthatin 2022,atleast halfofWalmart’shourlyworkersearnunder$29,000 annually,5 insufficientwages forabasicstandardofliving.Responsible companiesmust strivetoidentify,remedyandprevent poorlaborpracticestomitigatethesereputationalandlegalrisks.
1 https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-21-45.pdf
2 https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/27/business/walmart-coronavirus-workers-safety.html
3 https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/01/business/walmart-workers-sick-days.html
4 https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/walmart-pregnancy-accommodation-ruling-puts-pressureon-congress
5 Rick Wartzman, Still Broke: Walmart’s Remarkable Transformation and the Limits of Socially Conscious Capitalism (New York: PublicAffairs, 2022), 219.
Improving treatment of employees and foreign and domestic supply chain sourcing not only garnerspositiveattention andcustomerloyalty,6 itcanalsoinoculatecompaniesfrom anticipated regulatory changes, like the impending European Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive7 and the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (which requires importers to implement certainduediligenceprocesses).8 Competitors,includingKroger,Jumbo,AlbertHeijn,Tescoand others,haveconductedorcommittedtoundertakingHRDD,includingbyconductinghumanrights impactassessmentsontheirsourcingofhigh-riskcommodities.
GiventhelowcostofconductingandreportingonHRDDrelativetothesignificantpotentialcosts tiedtohumanrightsviolations,weurgetheBoardtoadoptthisproposalasacost-effectivemeans ofreducingexposuretoriskandprotectingbasichumanrights.
6 https://hbr.org/2008/07/putting-the-service-profit-chain-to-work
7 https://ec.europa.eu/info/business-economy-euro/doing-business-eu/corporate-sustainability-due-diligence_en
8 https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/2022-06/22_0617_fletf_uflpa-strategy.pdf