Taking What’s Ours From Walmart

This week, Bernie Sanders is going to Walmart’s annual stockholders meeting. He’ll be pushing the company to give the people who create Walmart’s wealth — its workers — representation on the company’s board.

Wal-Mart store exterior in Laredo, Texas, February 22, 2004.Jared C. Benedict / Wikimedia


We’re hearing more about women workers this Democratic primary season. Elizabeth Warren has some welcome ideas about childcare. Kamala Harris wants to raise teacher pay. Even “Creepy Joe” joined the workers on the Stop & Shop picket line. But only one candidate is confronting the nation’s largest private exploiter of women workers on its home turf next week.

That’s Bernie Sanders, who’s been invited by Walmart workers to the company’s annual shareholder meeting on June 5 in Rogers, Arkansas. He will speak in favor of a resolution to allow representation of hourly employees on the company’s board of directors. The proposal was drafted by Cat Davis, a longtime Walmart employee and a leader in the Walmart workers’ rights group United for Respect, and Bernie will take the mic as her proxy.

The company (no surprise) plans to vote down Davis’s proposal. But having Bernie Sanders at Wednesday’s meeting will draw attention to the workers’ efforts. It’s also, for Bernie, a sharp campaign move.

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