Amazon will face a shareholder vote calling for an unbiased audit of its warehouse working conditions for the primary time within the firm’s historical past, after US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rejected its try to exclude the proposal from its upcoming annual basic assembly.
Two shareholder proposals calling for an unbiased audit have been submitted in December 2021 – one by digital funding platform Tulipshare and one other by the Domini Impact Equity Fund – on behalf of traders involved about ongoing studies that Amazon workers are being subjected to unsafe working conditions and unfair remedy on a world scale.
“For the year 2020, it was reported that Amazon’s injury rate was more than twice as high as that of Walmart warehouse workers, and that Amazon’s serious injury rate was nearly 80% higher than the wider warehouse industry,” stated the Tulipshare proposal, including that the corporate’s excessive worker turnover charge – roughly 150% a 12 months earlier than the pandemic – is sort of double that of the broader retail and logistics industries.
“In response to warehouse workers’ recent organisation efforts and unionisation votes, former chairman Jeff Bezos admitted that Amazon needs ‘to do a better job’ for its employees. As Amazon shareholders, we agree, which is why we are calling for an independent audit and report of the working conditions and treatment that Amazon warehouse workers face.”
Amazon initially tried to have the proposals excluded from its annual basic assembly (AGM), with its legal professionals writing to the US securities regulator SEC in January 2022 to request their elimination on the idea that office questions of safety are “a matter of ordinary business” and subsequently excludable.
The SEC – which changed its guidance on 3 November 2021 in order that shareholder proposals associated to “significant social policy issues” can not be excluded below the “ordinary business” exception – rejected this request, marking the primary time the difficulty of staff remedy and security can be put to a vote at an Amazon AGM.
Computer Weekly contacted Amazon for remark on the SEC’s rejection of its request, however acquired no response.
Speaking with Computer Weekly, Tulipshare’s chief advertising officer Jenna Armitage stated it was a superb first step in the precise course, with the SEC modifications making it a lot simpler to get the proposal on the poll.
“We’re only asking for an audit. This audit is just going to bring back data and ensure we can get on the right track…it won’t do as much as quickly as it should, but it will provide the data so that we can make sure that Amazon fixes this issue,” stated Armitage.
She added that ongoing studies of poor working conditions have been dangerous for enterprise. “The issues have gone on for too long, and it’s our duty to oversee the management of Amazon as shareholders…it’s Amazon warehouse workers’ labour that pays out the dividends to shareholders, so we have to ensure that our dividends don’t come at the cost of compromising safety for workers,” she stated.
In response to the Tuplishare proposal, which is now included is now included as Item 16 in Amazon’s proxy statement, the corporate’s board of administrators beneficial (in the identical doc) that shareholders vote towards the proposal, citing quite a few security initiatives and investments the corporate has made lately.
“In light of our commitment to workplace safety, the steps we are taking to research, invest, and apply data and insights to improve safety in our workplaces, and our robust disclosures on these steps, the board recommends that shareholders vote against this proposal,” it stated.
The points have gone on for too lengthy, and it’s our responsibility to oversee the administration of Amazon as shareholders Jenna Armitage, Tulipshare
The initiatives and investments Amazon cites within the proxy assertion consists of its WorkingWell initiative, which it describes as a “comprehensive programme that aims to help prevent injuries, provide wellness services, and offer health literacy for employees”; its five-year $12m partnership with the National Safety Council, which goals to use tech to lower harm charges and enhance restoration instances; and it spending $15bn in Covid-related prices, in addition to an additional $300m on non-Covid-related “safety projects”.
Computer Weekly contacted Amazon for remark on the proposal, however it stated that there was nothing new to add.
Responding to separate questions concerning the firm’s office security report and why studies of poor working are persisting, Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel stated it had employed tens of hundreds of further employees to meet the unexpected demand from Covid-19.
“Like other companies in the industry, we saw an increase in recordable injuries during this time from 2020 to 2021 as we trained so many new people,” stated Nantel.
“Reviewing all of the OSHA [Occupational Safety and Health Administration] data, it’s clear that from 2019 to 2021, Amazon’s recordable injury rate declined by more than 13% while the three other large retailers in our industry saw their rates increase. While we still have more work to do and won’t be satisfied until we are excellent when it comes to safety, we continue to make measurable improvements in reducing injuries and keeping employees safe.”
On Amazon’s claims that it’s dedicated to office security, Tulipshare’s Armitage stated that no matter motion the corporate is taking, “it’s not working”, including: “This has been going on for years, and it’s only getting worse…how can you be the ‘world’s best employer’ and have a turnover rate of 150%?”
She went on to observe that latest unionisation efforts have been additionally a powerful indicator of the persevering with downside. For instance, Amazon staff on the JFK8 warehouse – a significant Amazon fulfilment centre in Staten Island that employs greater than 8,300 folks – voted to unionise on 1 April 2022, forcing the e-commerce large to formally recognise a commerce union of its staff within the US for the primary time.
The unionisation effort was pushed by the Amazon Labor Union (ALU), which started organising in April 2021 in response to working conditions on the firm.
“There’s multiple ways you can try to resist, and shareholder activism is just one of them,” stated Armitage, including the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR, a significant funding establishment of which Tulipshare is a member) has already urged to different shareholders that they vote in favour of the proposal. “We’re hopeful we’ll have a good turnout at this AGM given the reputational risk for investors.”
She added that whereas different funding establishments such because the Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis are but to come out explicitly in favour of the proposal, the AGM on 25 May 2022 provides traders probability to present they aren’t complicit in Amazon’s remedy of warehouse staff.
A further 24 institutional investors – together with asset managers Nordea, Royal London and several other giant European and US pension funds – individually tried to have a shareholder resolution introduced that might improve transparency round the place and the way a lot Amazon pays in tax around the globe.
While Amazon also challenged that resolution on the idea it was a matter of “ordinary business”, the SEC took the alternative view, that means a shareholder vote on the difficulty will go forward as properly.
