The world's largest company is suffering yet another blow to its global reputation as Sweden follows Norway in blacklisting Wal-Mart stock from the portfolio of a national pension fund, citing persistent human rights violations.
Sweden blacklists "Mall-Wart" stock
The Swedish Second National Pension Fund has announced that it has sold its SEK 300m (USD 40.7m) stake in Wal-Mart and Wal-Mart Mexico. The fund complained that it has "since 2003 written letters, voted at shareholder meetings and taken part in an investor group to influence the company, but there has been no change in the company's view of labour rights."
Though the financial impact of the blacklisting is scant, its symbolic significance is another matter. Consequently, Sweden can now expect a diplomatic rebuke from the United States, as Norway recently received after banning Wal-Mart from the USD 250bn Norwegian Government Pension Fund - Global on June 8, in accordance with its ethical investment guidelines.
Last Friday, US ambassador to Norway Benson K. Whitney fired off the most fierce diplomatic broadside since March 12 2003, when his predecessor John Doyle Ong suggested that Norway, a founding NATO member, could not expect US help in a military emergency unless it joined the invasion of Iraq. Ambassador Whitney expressed his "disappointment and surprise" that Norway flouted shared values of "fairness, transparency, justice, dialogue, ethics" by divesting from US companies on ethical grounds. He accused the evaluation process of arbitrariness, saying it effectively discriminates against US firms.
But these concerns were dismissed even by conservative Norwegian politicians. Per-Kristian Foss, a former Finance Minister for the Conservative party, advised the US ambassador to get on the phone to Wal-Mart and "tell them how the Norwegian practice works." He should let them know it was stupid to not answer the written questions from the Ethical Council of the Norwegian fund, Foss told newspaper Aftenposten. Wal-Mart headquarters had chosen not to dignify the Ethical Council's requests with a response.
Foss added to the financial newssite Næringsliv-24 that he would not be surprised to hear more such criticism from the US ambassador "as long as George W. Bush is President of the USA."
Within the US, Wal-Mart is a major donor to Republican electoral campaigns and was the second largest contributor in the 2004 election cycle. Vice President Dick Cheney then extolled the corporation as "outstanding" and "one of our nation's great companies," exemplifying "some of the very best qualitites in our country" such as "fair dealing and integrity." Wal-Mart "is a real credit to the United States of America," Cheney declared.
Scandinavian governments evidently disagree. |
