Empowering Social Investors and Promoting Corporate Responsibility.
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SocialFunds.com Press Releases
August 15, 2001 SocialFunds.com Partners with IRRC to Provide Comprehensive Shareowner Resolution Information to the Public
August 15, 2001 - SocialFunds.com now provides updated corporate social
policy shareowner resolution information from the Investor Responsibility
Research Center (IRRC) in its Shareowner Activism Center. SocialFunds.com
is bringing the IRRC Proxy Voting Checklist to the general public for the
first time.
“We are pleased to collaborate with the leading social issues proxy provider
in present timely shareowner resolution information on our website.
Shareowner activism is the vehicle through which concerned
investors—individuals as well as institutions— can directly impact corporate
policies,” said Jay Falk, President of SRI World Group, Inc. Company
shareowners vote on resolutions once a year at annual meetings or through
proxy ballots.
The 2001 IRRC Proxy Voting Checklist has recorded 261 resolutions filed with
169 companies as of July. The resolutions, which address energy and the
environment, fair employment practices, global labor standards, and a range
of other social policy issues, are summarized in the Checklist.
Of the 261 resolutions filed through mid-July, 139 came to votes. So far in
2001, one of every four proposals has garnered support from 10 percent or
more of the shares voted, as opposed to one of every six proposals in 2000.
While 10 percent of the vote may seem small, companies often consider
changes in corporate practices when resolutions receive less than majority
Shareowner support.
The proposal garnering the highest percentage of support so far this year
was a resolution filed with Unocal calling for the implementation of
International Labor Organization (ILO) standards, which promote fair labor
practices. Approximately 23 percent of Unocal’s non-abstaining shareowners
voted in favor of this proposal.
Doug Cogan, Deputy Director of Social Issues Service at IRRC, believes that
this year’s results indicate a trend of increasing support for decent and
equitable working standards. “If more institutions develop proxy voting
guidelines in support of these issues, like the California Public Employees’
Retirement System did last year, the votes are likely to go still higher,”
said Cogan.
Investor Responsibility Research Center (IRRC) is a non-profit, independent
research firm dedicated to corporate governance, proxy voting and corporate
responsibility issues.
www.irrc.org
www.unglobalcompact.org
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