WORKERS’ RIGHTS FOCUS OF ANNUAL MEETINGS
Companies asked to improve employees’ health and safety
It’s shaping up to be the season of the worker at annual company meetings.
From Amazon.com to Walmart, investors have filed more than 140 shareholder resolutions this year, pressing companies to address employee-related issues ranging from paid leave and health and safety to abortion access, benefits and labor rights.
Shareholders and companies have reached agreements on about a third of the requests. Most of the rest will go to a vote.
“You can see more of these proposals focused on workers’ rights elevating,” said Nadira Narine, senior director of strategic initiatives at the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, which tracks activist shareholder recommendations. “In order for us to really have an impact on worker health and safety, companies need to change the way they think about their business practices.”
Amazon faces five resolutions, while Walmart will be tested in four areas, including worker safety and pay disparity. Other companies facing multiple human-capital related topics are Kroger, UPS and Apple, according to an analysis by the Sustainable Investments Institute.
Amazon and Walmart said in their proxy statements that they oppose most of the shareholder proposals because existing policies and initiatives already sufficiently address the human-capital concerns that are being raised. All the companies had similar responses in their regulatory filings to the nonbinding resolutions.
The historic summer of 2020 exposed widespread inequities across Corporate America following the pandemic lockdowns and the murder by police of George Floyd. Three years later, concerns about inflation and a possible recession have prompted workers at companies, including Amazon, Apple and Starbucks, to organize unions as they agitate for faster change.
“When you see employees really more forcefully speaking out about workplace conditions, investors have to take note of that,” said Mary Beth Gallagher, director of engagement at Domini Impact Investments, which is seeking a health-and-safety audit at Dollar General. “If not, what needs to be fixed within the system?”
Companies have promised to better balance shareholder returns with the wellbeing of workers, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has been pressing companies to
be more transparent about the human-capital risks to their business.
Given this backdrop, this year’s proxy proposals have shifted somewhat from calls for racial audits and better board diversity to issues that more directly affect the worker, such as paid leave, and safety and labor rights, according to the Sustainable Investments Institute.
At Wells Fargo’s recent annual meeting, support for worker topics was higher than for climate proposals, according to Heidi Welsh, founding executive director for SI2.
The reality is humancapital issues are becoming a bigger risk for companies’ bottom line, Domini’s Gallagher said. For example, Dollar General, which offers low-cost goods aimed at poorer communities, has come under fire for allegedly failing to protect its own workforce, she said.
The U.S. Labor Department’s Occupational Safety
and Health Administration has added Dollar General to its severe violator list. And some communities are starting to cite the discount retailer’s treatment of workers among reasons to block the opening of new stores, which will ultimately hurt the company’s growth prospects, Gallagher said.
In a proxy filing prepared for its May 31 meeting, Dollar General said the company has a robust program for worker health and safety, and offers assistance and seeks worker feedback to improve working conditions. The company didn’t comment further.
The surge in humancapital proposals has been met by a wave of backlash from conservative groups. There are at least 20 proxy proposals on the ballots this year from organizations that say there is a negative cost to business in meeting the demands of activist investors.