The retailer Dillard’s reported in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing last week that 23,872,195 shares, (or 46.36 percent) were cast in support of a shareholder resolution urging the company to prepare a sustainability report, according to Christian Brothers Investment Services, the lead sponsor of the shareholder resolution. While the vote was taken in May 2007, CBIS says that Dillard’s delayed the disclosure of the vote totals until the release of its most recent quarterly report.
In addition to CBIS, the Dillard’s shareholder resolution was sponsored by the Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds, the New York City Pension Funds, and Amalgamated Bank’s LongView Collective Investment Funds, which had a total of 550,000 shares of Dillard’s stock.
“Given the company’s current lack of disclosure and the fact that preparation of this report will provide shareholders with a more complete view of the company’s policies, especially related to the strength of its existing supplier code of conduct, we encourage Dillard’s to join the mainstream of retail industry practices,” said CBIS’ corporate advocacy coordinator Julie Tanner. “Apparel manufacturers and retailers such as The Gap, Nike, Target and Timberland have recognized the growing relevance of global labor standards practices and have disclosed their supplier codes of conduct in publicly available reports. We know that Dillard’s cares a lot about these issues and does not want to be looked upon as a laggard in the industry.”
Forty-three climate-related shareholder resolutions were filed with U.S. companies this year, of which 15 led to positive actions by businesses such as ConocoPhillips, Wells Fargo and Hartford Insurance.