2023 ESG Proxy Vote Alerts

Amazon - Worker Rights and Safety - Retirement Funds - Plastics Pollution - Climate Lobbying - Political Spending

WELCOME TO WEEK 4 OF PROXY PREVIEW’S ESG PROXY VOTE ALERTS.

Most companies never receive a shareholder resolution. Of those that do, it is most often one resolution at a time. But the biggest companies have the biggest environmental and social impacts, and they regularly face several resolutions a year. Amazon is in a class by itself with an extraordinary 18 shareholder resolutions filed – thus earning an expanded alert of its own. But it has some competition because Alphabet, Meta, McDonald’s, Walmart, ExxonMobil and Chevron average nine resolutions each and their annual meetings are all coming up in the next two weeks.  These are the two busiest weeks of proxy season.

Below we look at seven of the pending resolutions at Amazon starting with the two hot button issues of union organizing rights and worker safety at all those warehouses. We also look at climate links to the worker pension retirement fund and the company’s climate lobbying.  The company’s huge packaging footprint is also under scrutiny, with proponents asking for more information. Two resolutions from anti-ESG proponents are also on the ballot.  Finally, we look at a new political spending resolution about dark money that was withdrawn from Amazon but which Merck investors will consider today.

Worker Safety

Proponents note that in 2021, Amazon employed one-third of all U.S. warehouse workers but was responsible for nearly half of all workplace injuries. New laws in California and New York target Amazon's use of productivity quotas that can prevent workers from complying with safety guidelines or recovering from strenuous activity, leaving them at high risk for injury and illness. The resolution asks for an independent audit of working conditions and treatment for employees packing your Prime deliveries.

Freedom of Association

Amazon states that it respects workers’ rights to join or form a union “without fear of reprisal, intimidation or harassment,” yet the public record calls this into question. Courts and regulatory agencies have repeatedly found that Amazon has violated labor laws, including terminating workers after they try to organize. The resolution asks for a third-party audit to assess the company’s adherence to its stated commitments to workers’ freedom of association and collective bargaining rights, a well-established international norm.

Climate Risk in Retirement Plans

A retirement plan has a long-term aim—payouts decades after the first contributions—and needs a commensurately long-term investment strategy.  As You Sow contends the default option for employee plans should consider the risks of climate change, a clear and growing systemic risk to the economy—which will harm workers along with everyone else. The resolution asks for a report on how the employee retirement plan considers climate risks in its investment strategy. 

Climate Lobbying

Many companies say they are taking steps to mitigate climate change – but many trade associations also actively lobby against the robust public policy actions that would encourage adherence to the Paris Agreement goal of keeping temperature rise below 1.5 degrees Celsius. This resolution asks the company how it identifies and addresses misalignments between lobbying expenditures and policy influence activities, both direct and indirect, with a company’s net zero or climate commitments. 

Plastic Packaging

Plastic waste is growing and has particularly harmful impacts in the oceans. Recycling, once seen as a solution, largely doesn’t work now for single-use plastics that make up a big part of the ocean trash problem. Unilever, Walmart, Target and Ikea are among the industry leaders with plastics reduction goals.  The proposal asks Amazon to report on how much plastic waste it produces and how it will reduce its plastic use by one-third in keeping with leading industry goals.  Amazon does not provide year-over-year data on how much waste it produces and it gives only anecdotal information about its goals and achievements.  

Anti-ESG Proponents

Amazon investors also face two proposals from groups that oppose ESG investment considerations.  The National Center for Public Policy Research wants a cost-benefit analysis of the company’s diversity programs and claims DEI efforts disadvantage people who oppose programs to support people of color, women and LGBTQ employees.   A second proposal, from the National Legal & Policy Center, says Amazon inappropriately removed from its hosting platform the service Parler, which was used by groups involved in the January 6 attacks on the U.S. capitol.   (NLPC says the move was in cooperation with U.S. government censorship and a violation of free speech rights.)

Corporate Political Spending

A new resolution coordinated by the Center for Political Accountability (CPA) addresses unseen (“dark”) money in politics.  It asks companies to require that nonprofit groups they support—trade associations, social welfare groups, or others that engage in political activities—to report on how much the groups spend and who gets the money, with reports to be posted on the company website.   The proposal invokes CPA’s Model Code for political spending.

 

Reminder: The VOTING DEADLINE for all U.S. companies is midnight Eastern Time on the DAY BEFORE the AGM.
Look for our Proxy Vote Alerts every week. Have a great proxy season!