Shareholder Proposals Appearing on the 2022 Amazon Proxy Ballot
Proposal #5: Amazon 401(k) Climate Alignment. Vote: 9.1%. Lead Proponent: As You Sow
“Amazon does a great job on climate in their operations with 100,000 new electric vehicles and data centers powered by renewables. Why is it that Amazon employees who are invested in their company retirement plan are profiting from companies burning down the Amazon?” said Andrew Behar, As You Sow CEO. “We are asking that the company deliver a report to investors about the material impact of investing out of alignment with their own sustainability goals and how this creates cognitive dissonance for employees and investors.”
Proposal #6: Customer Due Diligence. Vote: 40.3%. Lead Proponent: Sisters of St. Joseph of Brentwood (an Affiliate of Investor Advocates for Social Justice)
"Providing government agencies with technologies that may enable mass surveillance puts Amazon at risk of contributing to severe violations of international human rights and humanitarian law," said Sr. Pat Mahoney of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Brentwood, the lead filer of the Customer Due Diligence proposal. "To prevent further harm to impacted stakeholders and mitigate risks to the company, Amazon must strengthen its processes for vetting government customers and contracting opportunities."
Proposal #7: Hourly Employees on the Board of Directors. Vote: 22.2%. Lead Proponent: Oxfam America
“Amazon continues to rake in billions of dollars in profits, while workers suffer some of the highest warehouse injury rates in the nation,” said Robbie Silverman, Senior Corporate Advocacy Manager for Oxfam America. “Placing an hourly associate on Amazon’s board of directors would be transformational, signaling an authentic interest in hearing the voice of workers at the highest level of corporate governance and demonstrating a commitment to investors that the company is taking workers’ concerns seriously.”
Proposal #8: Plastic Pollution. Vote: 48.9%. Lead Proponent: Sara Sackner and supported by As You Sow
“Amazon is believed to be one of the largest corporate users of flexible plastic packaging, used for its blue and white e-commerce mailers, which cannot be effectively recycled,” said Conrad MacKerron, Senior Vice President, As You Sow, who is representing proponent Sara Sackner. “The company generates an estimated 465 million pounds of plastic packaging waste annually, much of which ends up in landfills or leaking into the environment. Unlike peers like Walmart and Target, the company has not set plastic use reduction goals. The proposal challenges the company to set such goals to help stem the global tide of plastic pollution, which poses threats to wildlife and human health.”
Proposal #9: Report on Worker Health And Safety Differences. Vote: 13.2%. Lead Proponent: NYC
Proposal #10: Risks Associated with Use of Concealment Clauses. Vote: 24.9%. Lead Proponent: Whistle Stop Capital, as part of the Transparency in Employment Agreements Coalition led by Earthseed, Whistle Stop Capital, Open MIC and Frontier Technology
Said Meredith Benton, Principal/Founder of Whistle Stop Capital, “If a company uses employment clauses to conceal from the public its true workplace conditions investors cannot have confidence in either the diversity and inclusion promises made or the reporting shared.”
“This shareholder resolution is based on a simple premise: Companies benefit from knowing when sexual harassment, discrimination and unlawful behavior are happening in the workplace, which is why employees should be encouraged to speak out about such conduct. It’s simply good business," said Michael Connor, Executive Director, Open MIC. "Amazon would be well-advised to weigh the resolution carefully and look to a future where employees are encouraged to help build a more equitable and productive work environment.”
Proposal #12: Tax Transparency. Vote: 17.5%. Lead Proponent: Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate / OIP Investment Trust -U.S Province
"Responsible taxation is a vital sustainability issue for investors," said Rev. Séamus P. Finn OMI, OIP Trust. "Aggressive corporate tax avoidance cost hundreds of billions in lost revenues each year from government budgets. It exacerbates existing inequalities, undermines broad-based economic growth, and creates unnecessary asset level and systemic risks for investors. Public country-by-country reporting will allow investors to better understand Amazon’s business model and tax planning strategy and ensure that it’s growth fairly contributes to the communities in which it earns its profits and doesn’t unfairly undercut those companies taking a responsible approach to tax planning."
Proposal #13: Freedom of Association: Vote: 38.9%. Lead Proponent: SHARE
“The recent tragedies that led to the deaths of Amazon warehouse workers indicate the need for higher human rights commitments and better workforce practices at the e-commerce giant. Amazon should take greater responsibility for its workforce and allow them to use their freedom of association and rights to collective bargaining in the most effective way,” said Sarah Couturier-Tanoh, Manager of Corporate Engagement & Advocacy at SHARE.
Proposal #14: Lobbying Expenditures Disclosure. Vote: 47.3%. Lead Proponent: The International Brotherhood of Teamsters
“Wanting to be the world’s best employer while funding organizations that lobby against workers’ rights is but one example of the misalignment between Amazon’s politics and public relations,” said Ken Hall, General Secretary-Treasurer of the Teamsters Union. “Without full disclosure of the company’s lobbying expenditures, shareholders don’t know if Amazon puts its money where its mouth is.”
Proposal #16: Report on Warehouse Working Conditions. Vote: 44.0%. Lead Proponent: Tulipshare
"Tulipshare's proxy fight victory with Amazon is precedent setting for human capital management. Amazon's human capital management strategy implements constant surveillance, demanding quotas which contribute to high injury and turnover rates, and a punitive "time-off-task" tracking system," said Constance Ricketts, Attorney and Head of Shareholder Activism for Tulipshare. "The SEC agreed with Tulipshare that the extreme working conditions Amazon employees experience equate to a significant social policy that transcends ordinary business. This is a huge win for Amazon employees, activists, and warehouse workers at large."
Proposal #17: Racial and Gender Pay Gaps. Vote: 28.8%. Lead Proponent: Arjuna Capital
“Amazon’s board has fought investors on racial and gender pay equity for the last 3 years, despite strong, consistent support for Arjuna Capital’s proposal,” said Natasha Lamb, Managing Partner at Arjuna Capital, which filed a proposal citing Amazon’s lack of best practice pay equity reporting. “Given the pay divides that have been exacerbated by the pandemic, protests to uphold Black lives, and Amazon’s own statements of solidarity, it’s inexcusable and hypocritical that the company continues to fight this simple and reasonable investor request. Now is the time for Amazon to address the structural racism and sexism that relegates minorities and women into low-paying jobs, so we can create a more diverse, innovative, and accountable organization.”
Proposal #19: Facial Recognition. Vote: 40.7%. Lead Proponent: Harrington Investments
“Amazon and its surveillance technology incorporating facial recognition has evolved into a perfect public/private partnership,” said John Harrington of Harrington Investments. “Authoritarian government can now utilize the technology to control populations while private sector corporations can manage the data to exploit facial identification for commercial advantage. The harm will be to civil liberties and competitive business practices.”
Floor Resolution: Productivity Quotas and Worker Surveillance. Vote: .2%. Lead Proponent: Daniel Olayiwola, Amazon worker
