Reports: Bernie Sanders Asked To Attend Walmart Shareholder Meeting By Union Rep

BENTONVILLE, Ark. (KFSM) — Democratic candidate for president U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders says he is honored to be invited by Walmart workers to attend the company’s annual shareholders meeting in Northwest Arkansas.

The presidential candidate will head to Bentonville to introduce a shareholders’ proposal to give Walmart workers a seat on the company’s board, according to The Washington Post.

Walmart workers are sick and tired of being paid poverty wages, while the Walton family is worth over $170 billion. I’m honored to have been invited by Walmart workers to demand they have a seat on the company’s board. https://t.co/hIYWI3hSbw

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) May 21, 2019

The request to add Walmart workers to the company’s board would require the retailer to consider its over one million hourly U.S. employees when nominating candidates to its board, the Post reported.

5NEWS has reached out for comment from the Sanders’ campaign but has not received a response yet.

“The company will respond to specific shareholder proposals once they are formally presented at our June 5 shareholders meeting.  Since the beginning, a cornerstone of Walmart’s culture has been engaging frontline associates in the management of the company, and we’re proud of the fact that 75% of our U.S. management associates began their career as frontline hourly associates. If Senator Sanders attends, we hope he will approach his visit not as a campaign stop, but as a constructive opportunity to learn about the many ways we’re working to provide increased economic opportunity, mobility and benefits to our associates — as well as our widely recognized leadership on environmental sustainability,” the Bentonville-based retailer said Tuesday (May 21) in a statement.

The 2019 shareholders meeting is set for June 5-7 in Rogers.

The event has drawn protest to the area for workers rights over the years.

Sanders, an unrelenting critic of Walmart’s treatment of its hourly workers, told The Washington Post “These workers need and deserve a seat at the table. If hourly workers at Walmart were well represented on its board, I doubt you would see the CEO of Walmart making over a thousand times more than its average worker.”

Walmart counters Sanders’ criticism by pointing to investments employees that include expanded paid time off, increased wages and more benefits.

“Since the beginning, a cornerstone of Walmart’s culture has been engaging frontline associates in the management of the company, and we’re proud of the fact that 75% of our U.S. management associates began their career as frontline hourly associates,” the company said.