By Siddharth Cavale
BENTONVILLE, Ark. (Reuters) – Retail giant Walmart (NYSE:) says it is against putting panic buttons in stores, a move the New York legislature wants to require under a new law aimed at keeping people safe. retail workers.
On Friday, the New York State Senate passed legislation that would force most large retail chains, including Walmart, to place panic buttons in their New York stores where they can be easily accessed by employees or provided to staff. panic devices that can be worn or activated by mobile phones. Buttons that summon emergency services.
The law, which is a reaction to growing threats to store employees from robberies and violence, has already passed the state Assembly and now goes to Gov. Kathy Hochul for her signature. Retail groups have criticized the law in part because installing panic buttons would be costly.
Walmart's top corporate affairs officer told Reuters the company opposes the panic button idea because it believes there are likely to be too many false alarms.
“Eight out of 10 times someone thinks something is happening, it's not,” Dan Bartlett, executive vice president of corporate affairs at Walmart, told Reuters on Friday.
Walmart said it hired its first safety director in April to evaluate the safety of store workers. Walmart, the country's largest retailer, operates 4,700 stores, including 98 in New York state.
The panic button provision of the New York law would take effect in 2027 for retailers with more than 500 employees nationwide.
The legislation would also require most retailers with 10 or more employees to provide safety and violence prevention training to their staff.
While Walmart is not unionized, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which represents more than 100,000 American workers, has pushed for the bill to become law in New York.
A group of retail industry lobbyists, including the National Retail Federation and the New York State Food Industry Alliance, have objected.
“The costly mandates proposed in the bill, including the installation of panic buttons, will do little or nothing to address repeat offenders who enter stores with the intent to engage in illegal activities such as robberies and assaults,” the group wrote in a statement dated May 28. letter.
They also supported a statement from the New York Police Department's Community Affairs Bureau opposing panic buttons. A New York City Council committee said in 2019 that 911 phone calls are better because they give first responders vital information that panic buttons don't.
“We respect the letter and are concerned about the panic button requirement,” Michael Durant, executive director of the New York State Food Industry Alliance, told Reuters on Saturday.
At Walmart's annual meeting in Bentonville, Arkansas, this week, shareholders rejected a proposal from Walmart store employee shareholders who wanted Walmart to conduct an independent review of its workplace safety and violence policies and practices. job.
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