The Bangladeshi garment worker attending Wal-Mart’s annual shareholders’ meeting to ask the company to protect workers’ rights

The world’s biggest retailer, Wal-Mart, is holding its annual shareholders’ meeting tomorrow in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Shareholders will be hearing a proposal from Kalpona Akter, from the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity, who worked for one of Wal-Mart’s garment suppliers in Bangladesh and is now campaigning on behalf of its workers for better conditions and a livable wage. With support from New York City Pension Funds which owns shares in Wal-Mart, Akter will be asking shareholders to approve a measure that would require the company’s suppliers to publish reports detailing working conditions in their factories. Wal-Mart is one of the biggest buyers of clothes made in Bangladesh but the International Labor Rights Forum says workers in Bangladesh have the lowest wages and some of the worst working conditions in the region Workers’ rights are also often repressed. For her campaigning, Akter herself and a colleague were held in jail and are facing what they say are false charges that include destroying property at a Wal-Mart supplier. They could face life imprisonment or even execution. About 100,000 consumers have signed a petition organized by the International Labor Rights Forum calling for Wal-Mart to apply pressure to get the charges dropped. We spoke with Kalpona Akter.