Disney Retreats in Shareholder Vote Dispute

Walt Disney Co. agreed to clear the way for shareholders to vote on a resolution calling for the company to issue a report on workplace conditions at its suppliers’ Third World and U.S. factories. The vote was sought by an Oakland investment firm, Progressive Asset Management, which has decried alleged sweatshop conditions at factories producing Disney products. Disney, which previously tried to block the proxy contest, reversed its position one day after Labor Secretary Robert Reich urged that investors be given the right to vote on such practices. Still, Burbank-based Disney said it will urge shareholders to vote against the resolution because the company already has “a very good program” for monitoring its suppliers’ factories and recently began reviewing ways to improve it.