Kroger 2010 Annual Report Download - page 65

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63
The Board should also prepare a report at reasonable cost to shareholders and the public concerning
the implementation and enforcement of this policy.
TH E BO A R D O F DI R E C T O R S RE C O M M E N D S A VO T E A G A I N S T TH I S PR O P O S A L F O R T H E
FO L L O W I N G RE A S O N S :
Kroger recognizes the importance of ensuring basic human rights are respected by those seeking
to do business with us. Kroger has in place a comprehensive code of conduct that is applicable to those
that furnish goods or services to us, as well as their contractors. That code of conduct has been published
and is available on our website at www.thekrogerco.com. While Kroger’s code of conduct for vendors
covers the issues addressed by the proposal, it is substantially more comprehensive. Our existing code
of conduct requires compliance with all applicable labor laws, regulations, and orders, including the Fair
Labor Standards Act. In addition, the code of conduct:
•฀ Prohibits฀child,฀indentured,฀involuntary,฀or฀prison฀labor;
•฀ Prohibits฀exposing฀workers฀to฀unreasonably฀hazardous,฀unsafe,฀or฀unhealthy฀conditions;
•฀ Prohibits฀unlawful฀discrimination;
•฀ Requires฀the฀workplace฀to฀be฀free฀from฀harassment;
•฀ Requires฀workers฀to฀be฀treated฀fairly,฀with฀dignity฀and฀respect;
•฀ Requires฀that฀wages฀meet฀or฀exceed฀legal฀and฀industry฀standards;
•฀ Requires฀that฀U.S.฀workers฀be฀eligible฀for฀employment฀in฀the฀U.S.;
•฀ Prohibits฀bribes฀and฀conduct฀that฀appears฀improper฀or฀may฀result฀in฀a฀conflict฀of฀interest;
•฀ Requires฀compliance฀with฀the฀U.S.฀Foreign฀Corrupt฀Practices฀Act;฀and
•฀ Requires฀maintenance฀of฀records฀(that฀must฀be฀furnished฀to฀us฀upon฀request)฀evidencing฀compliance฀
with the code.
The proponents request that Kroger adopt a revised code of conduct, applicable to all suppliers and
contractors, that provides for the following:
•฀ Employment฀is฀to฀be฀freely฀chosen,฀without฀the฀use฀of฀forced฀labor;
•฀ Workers฀are฀entitled฀to฀overtime฀pay฀when฀working฀more฀than฀eight฀hours฀per฀day;
•฀ Workers฀have฀a฀right฀to฀form฀and฀join฀unions฀and฀to฀collectively฀bargain;฀and
•฀ Worker฀representatives฀are฀to฀be฀free฀from฀discrimination฀and฀have฀access฀to฀the฀workplace.
Kroger has developed its own code of conduct that not only deals with the basic tenets of the
shareholder proposal, but also requires those that do business with us to respect their workers’ basic
human rights in other respects not covered by the proposal. We believe that our existing code of conduct
is appropriate and comprehensive, and that adoption of the proposal is unnecessary.