“The SEC’s 3-2 vote to approve the Shareholder Proposal Rule is a slap in the face to corporate accountability. The Shareholder Proposal Rule seeks to remedy non-existent problems with draconian solutions that only further strengthen corporate executives’ already strong hand and insulate them from accountability at the expense of shareowners.
“The New York City Retirement Systems have a long and proud history of corporate engagement, which has had the effect of producing significant social benefits and enhancing long-term shareholder value, consistent with the Systems’ investment policies and objectives. Today’s announcement will only weaken shareowners’ ability to effectively engage with the companies they own.
“Since the NYCRS submitted their first shareholder proposal in 1985, urging companies doing business in apartheid South Africa to adhere to specific human rights principles, they have filed more than 1,000 shareholder proposals—almost certainly more than any other investor in the world.
“These are mechanisms through which we and other shareowners have pushed for anti-discrimination policies, greater diversity in the C-suite and boardroom, better climate policies and improved transparency and accountability.
“The shareholder proposal is an essential tool for ensuring that companies are held accountable to the interests of investors. This tool should be enhanced, not diminished.
“The NYCRS represent the retirement security of the City’s teachers, school employees, police and firefighters, and other employees. They are the investors whose interests the SEC should be protecting, not those of corporate executives.”
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