Standards Report Released by Wal-Mart

Bentonville, Ark. - August 16 - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. found a decrease in the worst types of labor violations at foreign factories last year during inspections of nearly 8,900 plants where it buys clothes, toys, shoes and other products.

In an annual report released Wednesday, the world's largest retailer said its inspection program found that a smaller percentage of factories had severe violations of safety, labor and environmental standards.

According to the report, Wal-Mart conducted more factory audits than any other company in the world in 2006. The audits occurred at 8,873 factories producing goods for Wal-Mart. Unannounced audits made up 26% of the audits undertaken, a 6% increase over 2005. High-risk violations of the Wal-Mart Standards for Suppliers code decreased 23.5% in 2006, mainly due to educational outreach merchandise for sale by Wal-Mart.

“The Wal-Mart Ethical Standards program is in place to do what is right for factory workers and the environment,” said Rajan Kamalanathan, VP of ethical standards for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. “The only way to achieve our objective is by moving beyond monitoring factories to working in collaboration with stakeholders. In this manner, we not only bring sustainable and positive change to working conditions in factories, we also help build ladders to a better life in the countries where we’re sourcing.”

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