NEWS FROM THE CWC
SECRETARIAT
We are delighted to announce the dates for the
2018 Workers' Capital conference in the San Francisco
Bay area
September
10-11, 2018
We are pleased to be organizing the conference
with the AFL-CIO and will have more details on the venue and
logistics in the coming weeks. The conference will precede
the PRI in Person, which will take place from September 12-14,
2018 in San Francisco. The Global Climate Action Summit will be
held concurrently, on September 12-14, 2018.
Shareholder Activism Working Group
Campaigns
Portal
The Shareholder Activism Working Group is
inviting trade unions across the world to request our support
in building shareholder activism and/or capital stewardship
elements to their campaigns. We have produced an outreach package that includes a short guide and a simple campaign intake form for unions who would like to connect with
pension funds investing in companies implicated in their on the
ground campaigns. These materials are specifically
formulated for those who are not familiar with our
approach.
Please note that you can still contact us directly with any requests for campaign support you may
have.
Missing links in the investment chain:
How did global asset managers vote on resolutions targeting
workers’ rights and labour standards in 2017? We reviewed
the proxy voting records of 7 global asset managers on 15
shareholder resolutions filed by our participants and/or
related to workplace issues in 2017 in our latest blog post. This
blog is the first of a series looking at how to increase the
accountability of key PRI signatory asset managers in promoting
strong workers’ human rights. Read the blog post to find out more.
Campaign updates
The Shareholder Activism Working Group has
provided support to several campaigns since the last
newsletter, including a proxy alert on Sports
Direct. Please scroll down for updates on workers' capital in action
from IndustriALL, the ACTU in Australia, the RAIR in
France. the AFL-CIO in the USA and more.
Trustee Profile: Roslyn McLennan
The CWC published the final in its series of action profiles on how pension trustees from across the
world deal with salient ESG issues at the board level. Sunsuper
board member Roslyn McLennan spoke to us about how
trustees can leverage members’ retirement savings to
encourage companies to make decisions that benefit the lives of
working people collectively. Read our inspiring profile here.
Global
IndustriALL Global Union's Executive Committee has endorsed running a global campaign
demanding that metal, mining and trading giant Glencore live up
to its claim to be a socially responsible employer. IndustriALL
will be engaging with investors about Glencore’s current
practices which violate workers rights and create unnecessary
risks for the company.
- Responding to new threats threat to the
Australian industry superannuation system posed by the
conservative national government’s Royal Commission into
Misconduct in the Banking;
- Hosting Sharan Burrow, General
Secretary of the ITUC and Vonda Brunsting, former Director
of the Capital Stewardship Program at SEIU in Australia
for events related to workers’ capital and just
transition;
- Coordinating global trade union
endorsement for a Labour Standards Code for Infrastructure
Asset Managers in view of establishing a new benchmark for
asset manager’s Responsible Contractor Policies; and
- Supporting global and Australian
capital strategy initiatives.
France
Workers' capital and international solidarity played a strong
role in a victory for workers at the Westin Long Beach Hotel in
Los Angeles. The site of an ongoing and widely publicized
labour dispute in recent years, the hotel was indirectly owned
by a US pension fund under an advisory agreement with a US
asset manager that is a subsidiary of the French Natixis Global
Asset Management. Unite HERE had approached Natixis to
intervene without success. The RAIR (Trustee Network for
Responsible Investment - France) contacted French pension
scheme Ircantec, a client of Natixis. With the support of
Ircantec President Jean-Pierre Costes, the RAIR met with
Natixis managers throughout 2017 to discuss a solution. In late
2017, it was announced that the hotel was sold and
its owners extended union recognition to the hotel’s
workers. The Westin Long Beach Hotel workers sent the RAIR this photo to thank them for their work.
The
Netherlands
At the
request of the FNV, the VBDO conducted a study on how
pension funds address the issue of living wages. The report,
which was published as part of the FNV's decent work agenda, is
available here.
United
States
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