Tuesday, May 31, 2011

COMPTROLLER LIU, NYC PENSION FUNDS TO DISCUSS WAL-MART’S SUPPLIERS
WITH FORMER CHILD LABORER

   New York City Comptroller John C. Liu will host a breakfast meet-and-greet with Trustees of the NYC Pension Funds and Kalpona Akter, a workers’ rights activist and former child laborer from Bangladesh on Tuesday, May 31.

Comptroller Liu, the Trustees and Ms. Akter, who is stopping in New York on her way to Wal-Mart’s annual meeting, will discuss the Funds’ shareholder proposal that Wal-Mart require its suppliers uphold human and workers rights.  The Funds’ hold $311 million in Wal-Mart shares.

On June 3, Ms. Akter, the Executive Director of the Bangladesh Center for Workers Solidarity, will present the Funds’ proposal to Wal-Mart’s board of directors in Arkansas.  The proposal calls on the nation’s largest retailer to hold its suppliers around the globe accountable for their compliance with international standards of human and workers rights.

Kalpona faces years in prison on unsubstantiated criminal charges of fomenting garment worker unrest in Bangladesh.  Eighteen members of Congress have sent letters on her behalf to Wal-Mart and five other U.S. retailers, as well as to the U.S. Trade Representative.


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