David Webber: Guest Speaker on Corporate Accountability Forums April 4, 10 am Pacific, 1 pm Eastern – Register David Webber Yesterday, David Webber discussed his comment letter on proposed DOL regulations, which failed to consider the jobs of the very workers who contribute to funds regulated by the Department, harming both the workers and the funds […]
SEC to Protect Shareholder Rights in 2021 Shareholder rights in 2021 will strengthen if recent speculation is realized. U.S. Senate Democrats aim to undo Trump-era shareholder voting rights rule. Shareholder Rights in 2021: History As discussed elsewhere on CorpGov.net (Review: Carl Gershenson). After its founding, the SEC was largely a champion of shareholder rights, requiring companies […]
Virtual meeting problems were highlighted in this excerpt from CII’s Weekly Governance Alert Vol 25, Issue 17 | April 30, 2020 by Rosemary Lally. I am reproducing below in order to ensure it gets wider distribution. Virtual meetings, in my experience, have been more problematic when hosted by Computershare than Broadridge but I have had […]
Proxy Preview 2019 reveals intensified shareholder pressure on corporations across a wide range of ESG issues from climate and political spending to women. Investors with a conscience; we are having a bigger impact every year. Download the report and/or watch webinar here. (more…)
The Rise of the Working-Class Shareholder: Labor’s Last Best Weapon by David Webber is sure to get readers thinking (purchase). For far too long, labor and its progressive sympathizers have sought to transform the market from outside the market: from courts, from legislatures, from regulators, from street protests, from strikes. These tools are important. But […]
Lobbying disclosure is sought by shareholder resolutions filed at 50 companies by 66 institutional and individual investors. Corporate lobbying disclosure remains a top shareholder proposal topic for 2016. At least 66 investors have filed proposals at 50 companies asking for lobbying reports that include federal and state lobbying payments, payments to trade associations used for […]
Yesterday, I posted a recent letter to the editor of Pensions & Investments praising their editorial, Winning Over Proxy Voters, which argues that institutional investors have a fiduciary duty to announce their proxy votes in advance of annual meetings, if doing so is likely to influence voters. If institutional investors heed their call, it will speed […]
Just a brief post to thank shareowners at Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) for sending a strong message to the company’s board and management. 77% of shares were voted against the executive pay package and a majority supported our proposal to end supermajority voting requirements. CalSTRS, Florida SBA, AFSCME, Calvert, Domini, Trillium, CBIS, CtW and many […]
Goldman Sachs Group $GS, is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 5/16/2014. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of two funds when I checked and voted on 5/11/2014. I voted with management 31% of the time. View Proxy Statement. Read Warnings below. Compensation GS’s Summary Compensation Table shows CEO/Chair Lloyd C. Blankfein (more…)
Union Pacific Corporation $UNP, is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 5/15/2014. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of three funds when I checked and voted on 5/9/2014. I voted with management 53% of the time. View Proxy Statement. Warning: Be sure to vote each item on the proxy. Any items left blank are voted in […]
Gilead Sciences $GILD is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 5/7/2014. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of two funds when I checked and voted on 4/28/2014. I voted with management 43% of the time. View GILD’s Proxy Statement, which has a linked Table of Contents. Warning: Be sure to vote each item on the […]
Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 1/30/2014. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of two funds when I checked and voted on 1/19/2014 (They now show five). I voted with management 25% of the time. View Proxy Statement. (more…)
Microsoft Corporation $MSFT is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 11/19/2013. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of four funds when I checked (there have been more since). I voted with management 75% of the time. View Proxy Statement. Warning: Be sure to vote each item on the proxy. Any items left blank are voted […]
H&R Block, Inc. $HRB is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 9/12/2013. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of two funds when I checked on 9/6/2013 and again on 9/9/2013. I voted with management 53% of the time. View Proxy Statement. (more…)
NextEra Energy, Inc. (NEE) is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 5/23/2013. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of three funds when I checked on 5/16/2013. I voted with management 69% of the time. View Proxy Statement. Warning: Be sure to vote each item on the proxy. Any items left blank are voted in favor […]
American Tower Corp ($AMT) is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 5/21/2013. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of three funds when I checked on 5/13/2013. I voted with management 100% of the time. View Proxy Statement. Warning: Be sure to vote each item on the proxy. Any items left blank are voted in favor […]
Union Pacific Corporation ($UNP) is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 5/16/2013. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of three funds when I checked on 5/13/2013. I voted with management 56% of the time. View Proxy Statement. Warning: Be sure to vote each item on the proxy. Any items left blank are voted […]
Chipotle Mexican Grill ($CMG) is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 5/17/2013. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of three funds when I checked on 5/13/2013. I voted with management 38% of the time. View Proxy Statement. Warning: Be sure to vote each item on the proxy. Any items left blank are voted in favor […]
Marriott International Inc ($MAR) is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 5/10/2013. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of two funds when I checked on 5/3/2013. I voted with management 93% of the time. View Proxy Statement. Warning: Be sure to vote each item on the proxy. Any items left blank are voted in favor […]
Fluor Corp ($FLR) is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 5/2/2013. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of two funds when I checked on 4/26/2013. I also checked OTPP, which voted with management except they voted against amending the stock plan. I voted with management 58% of the time. View Proxy Statement. Warning: Be sure to […]
Kimberly Clark ($KMB) is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 5/2/2013. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of five funds when I checked on 4/26/2013. I voted with management 64% of the time. View Proxy Statement. Warning: Be sure to vote each item on the proxy. Any items left blank are voted in favor of […]
American Express Company ($AXP) is a stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 4/29/2013. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of six funds when I checked on 4/22/2013. I voted with management 59% of the time. View Proxy Statement. Warning: Be sure to vote each item on the proxy. Any items left blank are voted in favor of […]
Johnson & Johnson ($JNJ) is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 4/25/2013. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of three funds when I checked on 4/22/2013. I voted with management 76% of the time. View Proxy Statement. Warning: Be sure to vote each item on the proxy. Any items left blank are voted in favor of […]
Apple ($AAPL) is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 2/27/2013. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of five funds when I checked on 2/19/2012. They listed the votes of six funds voting as of yesterday. I voted with management 46% of the time. View Proxy Statement. I voted, despite David Einhorn’s attempt to get an […]
Last week, investors announced filing shareholder resolutions at more than 50 corporations as part of a 2013 proxy season initiative asking companies to annually report their federal and state lobbying, including any payments to trade associations used for lobbying as well as support for tax-exempt organizations that write and endorse model legislation. Take Action: In his […]
Walgreens ($WAG) is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 1/9/2013. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of four funds when I voted on 1/1/2012. I voted with management only 24% of the time. View Proxy Statement. Warning: Be sure to vote each item on the proxy. Any items left blank will be voted in […]
Trillium Asset Management LLC, on behalf of the Benedictine Sisters of Mount St. Scholastica, along with the AFSCME Employees Pension Plan recently filed a shareholder proposal with Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C, $C) asking the company’s board of directors to explore a possible separation of one or more of its business units. (more…)
Shareholder Spring Power of the Proxy. CNBC interview with Michael Garland, NYC Comptroller’s director of corporate governance and Lisa Lindsley, of AFSCME. (more…)
Union Pacific (UNP) is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 5/10/2012. Voting ends 5/9 on Moxy Vote’s proxy voting platform, which listed nine “good causes,” but three were consolidations, when I checked and voted on 5/7. ProxyDemocracy.org had 1 fund voting.UNP scores 13 out of 100, since I voted with management on only […]
Some scribbles from the recent LA Trustees Round Up. I was more focused on reporting the first day on governance issues. I took far fewer notes on the second day but they may still be of some interest to CorpGov.net readers. There were several additional inspirational speakers. I mostly listened and didn’t (more…)
No, he isn’t dead but he might as well be as far as his ability to influence Vanguard, the giant mutual fund he founded. John Bogle wants funds to introduce resolutions at companies requiring a 75% shareowner vote in order to make political contributions. Yet, Vanguard has never introduced a single shareowner resolution anywhere that […]
AFSCME and RAM Trust urge shareowners to rein in CEO Pay, implement governance improvements at their May 25 meeting. AFSCME and RAM Trust recommend: Against ratifying executive pay (Item 3) For One Year frequency of the advisory vote on compensation (Item 4) Adopt a policy that the XOM Board Chair be an independent (more…)
Berkshire Hathaway is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up April 30 Again, I’m a little disappointed not to see more voting advice available at this late date. Where are Florida SBA, CalSTRS, CalPERS, and all those SRI funds? Only AFSCME is reporting so far on ProxyDemocracy.org but they […]
Kellogg is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up April 29. I’m a little disappointed not to see more voting advice available at this late date (only 1 fund reporting on ProxyDemocracy.org). The “Reduce Supermajority Vote Requirements” proposal is mine, so of course I was sure to vote for that […]
Citigroup is on of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up April 21. I voted as follows based on a combination of AFSCME, CBIS and Trillium votes found at (more…)