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'Tis the Season for Shareholder Activism
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Every spring, thousands of annual general meetings take place across America. Many of these are banal affairs where CEOs use their big day to unveil their latest product, announce record profits, or otherwise make a media splash and get their votes of confidence from the stockholders who own the companies. You've seen it before: Bill Gates grins on stage as he touts Microsoft's New Feature. There's a colossal screen above Gates' head with a close up of his face, and the audience of thousands goes into thunderous applause every time he finishes a sentence.
Shareholder meetings are also the one opportunity each year where minority shareholders and advocacy groups have a chance to speak directly with the company boards in a public forum. Participation ranges from mild-mannered opposition to radical, attention-getting activism. In 1998, for instance, environmental activists from Amazon Watch splashed fake blood on the exterior of the Occidental oil company's headquarters and carried a "pipeline" of eight oil barrels welded together into the lobby of the building. Other meetings have prompted large scale banner drops, traffic obstructions, and puppet parades.
Amazon Watch's Leila Salazar, who was present at this year's ChevronTexaco meeting, believes that participating in these annual meetings is a useful way to be heard as an activist. "A lot of times we don't have that access," she says. "It's rare to be able to go and meet with companies that normally wouldn't listen to activists."
| Resolving to Change Below is a list of shareholder resolutions that have yet to be presented this season. For a complete list of the U.S. resolutions (including those that have passed and those that have been omitted or withdrawn), visit www.iccr.org. Avon May 5, 2005 Product Safety While the cosmetics company has removed products containing any ingredients on a list of chemicals known or suspected of causing cancer, genetic mutation, or birth defects from European products, it has not done so for its U.S. products. The recent shareholder's resolution points to the chemicals still found in U.S. products -- from petrolatum, to known carcinogens to reproductive toxins -- and asks for a worldwide ban. Ford Motor Company May 12, 2005 Global Warming and Executive Compensation As the maker of a number of inefficient passenger vehicles, such as sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and pickups, one resolution points out that "Ford's average fleet fuel economy has been lower than any other major automaker since 2000." The shareholders requested that the company link a significant portion of senior executive compensation to progress in reducing lifetime product greenhouse gas emissions from the company's new passenger vehicles. Hasbro May 19, 2005 Vendor Standards Hasbro makes most of its toys in overseas factories. A resolution to be presented at their upcoming meeting acknowledges the recent rise in awareness about human rights abuses and the denial of labor rights in overseas subsidiaries. Here, the shareholders went as far as to ask the company to promise to give all workers the right to form and join trade unions, to refuse to use bonded or prison labor and to refuse to use child labor. Bristol-Myers Squibb Company May 3, 2005 HIV Reporting This resolution sites a recent World Bank study which predicts "a complete economic collapse will occur" unless there is a response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The study estimates that the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa, where this company has operations in over 50 countries and employees more than 15,000 workers, will continue to grow. The resolution argues that HIV, along with malaria and TB, "can directly impact our company's bottom line through decreased productivity, increased absenteeism, ballooning healthcare and disability costs," and what they call "the destruction of human capital." It asks, therefore, that the company make an effort to evaluate and report on the effects of these diseases on their companies. ExxonMobil May 25 Sexual Orientation Discrimination The company has had eight resolutions filed against it for its shareholder meeting. One is led by the New York City Employees Retirement System, and it suggests that ExxonMobil rewrite its equal employment opportunity policy to include protection for workers regardless of sexual orientation. |
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