As a direct reaction to the recent revelations of cover-ups of systemic bribery plaguing its Mexican operations, some of Wal-Mart's more significant shareholders,the consolidated New York City pension funds, said they will align their votes against the retailer's existing directors.
According to the New York Times, the pension funds, which hold 4.7 million Wal-Mart shares as part of their holdings, plan to use their collective votes to try to remove five of the company's directors, who are up for re-election June 1.
A week ago, the Times revealed that Wal-Mart's investigators had found evidence of widespread bribery to attempt to expand the retailer's already significant presence in Mexico, with the added insult that Wal-Mart executives later shut down the investigations.
The company maintains that the bribery allegations go back at least six years and have since ceased, working in cooperation with Mexican officials.
Nonetheless, representatives of pension funds including the New York City Employees' Retirement System, the Teachers' Retirement System, the Board of Education Retirement System and the police and fire department's pensions, have opted to use their collective voting powers to send a message to the giant retailer.
Elizabeth McGeveran, a senior vice president F&C Management, a major asset management company which participated in recent meetings with Wal-Mart's board, told the Times that the directors realize the negative publicity the revelations have caused and will try to be more open to shareholder input.
"One of the biggest questions I still have is this is such a big institution, how are they evaluating the true effectiveness of their policies?" she said. "It would be a good time for the board to start talking more broadly and publicly about those questions."
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