Buoyed by the usual lineup of music stars, Wal-Mart shareholders rocked the house Friday but didn't rock the boat when they rejected three corporate proposals submitted by activist shareholder-employees.
The final vote count on each resolution wasn't available, but preliminary results showed that none passed. Each received scattered applause when introduced Friday morning during the company's annual shareholders meeting in Bud Walton Arena on the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, campus.
One called for the appointment of a board chairman who is independent of the company. Amy Ritter, communications director of Making Change at Walmart, an affiliate of a Washington, D.C.-based union, said an independent chairman and a more independent board would improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of Wal-Mart employees.
Ritter said an average Wal-Mart employee would have to work 1,000 years before making the yearly $22.5 million salary of Wal-Mart President and Chief Executive Officer Doug McMillon.
"Why are tens of thousands of Wal-Mart workers forced to apply for food stamps or other government assistance paid by taxpayers, when Wal-Mart could easily afford to pay a real living wage?" Ritter asked.
A second, nonbinding resolution, by Carolyn Davis, a Wal-Mart associate from the Outer Banks coastal region of North Carolina, called for management to nominate at least one member to the corporate board who is an expert on the environment.
She said such a member could help make sure the company "lives up to the promises it made" in various efforts related to climate change, sustainability and renewable energy.
Janice Grice, a Wal-Mart associate for three years in Marion, S.C., called for the company to conduct a study to determine, by gender and by race, the number of associates who are full time and part time. She saluted the company for a similar study of its management ranks but said diversity in management doesn't match the diversity of the corporate workforce.
Grice said her starting salary was $7 an hour and is now $10 an hour. Wal-Mart has said the average pay is $13.75 an hour.
Grice also said the company relies too heavily on part-time workers and doesn't move them into full-time positions.
"Too many of us are part time," she said. "Too many of us still can't pay our bills."
Quoting Sam Walton, the company's founder, Grice said, "If you want the people in the stores to take care of the customers, you have to make sure you're taking care of the people in the stores."
Wal-Mart Executive Vice President Jeffrey Gearhart said the company recently spent $2.7 billion on training, education and wage increases for workers. "That really happened," Gearhart said.
More than 150,000 workers recently were moved from hourly, part-time positions into full-time ones, he said. Of those, he added, 57 percent were women and 47 percent were of color.
stars take stage
High on star power over the past several years, this year's meeting for shareholders and selected Wal-Mart associates from stores in 28 countries didn't disappoint.
Country star Blake Shelton, an Oklahoma native, served as host. Mary J. Blige performed, and the headliner of the event -- in the sense that she was last to perform -- was Gwen Stefani.
Filling out the morning's lineup: Rachel Platten, Ne-Yo, a hip-hop artist and native of Camden, and The Band Perry.
Each got eight-minute segments, enough for two numbers each.
The live music started about 7 a.m., as Bud Walton Arena began reaching capacity. The shareholders meeting officially began an hour later.
Sheryl Crow and Rascal Flatts played earlier this week at Bud Walton Arena.
Performers and celebrities taking the stage at previous meetings: Beyonce, Tom Cruise, the Eagles, talk-show host James Corden, Taylor Swift and Lionel Richie.
The performers play for free -- because Wal-Mart stores around the world sell their music -- but do get financial assistance on transportation and lodging.
delivery by employee
Wal-Mart introduced a new method for dropping off packages to customers this week with a pilot program that will allow employees to deliver items on their way home from work shifts.
But McMillon cautioned that the testing phase of the service would move slowly.
"After we roll it out we want to make sure everything went well, associates are being paid appropriately and we don't have any issues related to that," McMillon said. "I wouldn't jump to a conclusion that it's going to be nationwide too soon."
McMillon said there still will be a role for UPS and FedEx for deliveries of Wal-Mart packages. The company continues to test deliveries with ride-sharing services Uber and Lyft.
"This is an interesting piece," McMillon said. "But it's just a piece of it."
Regarding other Wal-Mart innovations, Daniel Eckert, senior vice president of Wal-Mart Services, received the Sam M. Walton Entrepreneur of the Year award for his work on Walmart Pay, a smartphone app used at checkout by online shoppers.
Eckert joined the company in 2010.
Walmart Pay, which was put together by Eckert and a 180-member team, was rolled out across the company's 4,700 U.S. stores last year. More than 7.3 million transactions have been completed through Walmart Pay since it was introduced and 3,000 new users try it each day, according to data from the company.
taste-testing reporters
About 50 representatives of news organizations from around the world got a look Thursday at Wal-Mart's year-old Culinary and Innovation Center in Bentonville.
The 12,000-square-foot facility lets Wal-Mart work closely with its network of suppliers in determining what products will reach customers.
Potential new products are tested -- and tasted. The visitors there Thursday were taken into the "sensory" lab, to taste, and then critique, a dollop of a crunchy cookie spread.
Other rooms have gas ovens, microwaves, and electric ovens -- where every aspect of products are studied, from ingredients to dietary information to cooking directions, and put to the test.
Bolstered by market studies showing a demand for the return of "nostalgia" items, Wal-Mart is bringing back a sugary breakfast cereal of the 1990s called Oreo O's. Those were available by the handful for sampling by news representatives.
Wal-Mart also is bringing back Zima, a citrus-flavored alcoholic beverage produced for a time by Miller Brewing Co. It was pulled off the market about a decade ago.
It's another "nostalgia" product, said Al Dominguez, senior vice president of snacks, beverages and imports.
Reviving the beverage was a joint decision between Wal-Mart and Miller, he said.
"We are getting as much of it as we can," he said. Wal-Mart won't be the only distributor of the beverage, but it will be the largest, he said.
Dominguez said the Zima of today is the same of yesteryear, but no samples were available to determine if there were any changes.
Information for this article was contributed by Robbie Neiswanger of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Business on 06/03/2017