The Anglican Examiner |
| Encouraging Christian Witness in Investments |
Shareholder activism
played a key role in the
effort to end apartheid in
South Africa and has
become an important
means of addressing
discrimination, women’s
rights, slavery, and
environmental concerns.
The Anglican Examiner
is committed to covering
the share-holder
movement and providing
information about how
readers can participate
even if they don't own
stock.
played a key role in the
effort to end apartheid in
South Africa and has
become an important
means of addressing
discrimination, women’s
rights, slavery, and
environmental concerns.
The Anglican Examiner
is committed to covering
the share-holder
movement and providing
information about how
readers can participate
even if they don't own
stock.
American labor law reform, which Human Rights Watch has called a “human rights imperative,” has won the support of an international coalition of institutional investors managing $372 billion in capital. The group of 26 institutions has sent a letter to Congress endorsing the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). The act would make it easier to organize labor unions in the United States and eliminate some current anti-union practices. The letter said “unionization can have strong long-term benefits for individual companies. Studies have shown that union-represented employees have lower turnover rates than non-union employees, leading to lower training and hiring costs, and a more experienced workforce. This partly explains why unionized workforces are associated with higher productivity gains in certain sectors.” In an appendix to the letter, the investors noted that 35 countries on six continents already have provisions similar to what EFCA proposes. The investor coalition includes institutions such as Kommunal Landspensjonskasse, Norway’s manager of municipal and county pensions; Merseyside Pension Fund in the United Kingdom; Pensionskassernes Administration (PKA), Denmark’s largest manager of occupational pension funds; and the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors. Domini Social Investments, founded by Amy Domini of the Diocese of Massachusetts, helped draft the letter and was one of the signatories. Details are available at Domini.com. |
| International Coalition of Investors Calls for Labor Law Reform in U.S. |
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| The Anglican Examiner, Copyright by Donn Mitchell, 2009. |