Verizon Shareholder Proposal on Open Internet Issues Receives Support from Leading Proxy Advisory Firm ISS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE APRIL 17, 2013: A shareholder proposal asking Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) to issue a report about the risks confronting the company because of its positions on net neutrality and open Internet issues has received support from the leading advisor to institutional investors. The shareholder proposal can be voted on by Verizon shareholders either by proxy over the next two weeks, or in person at the company’s annual meeting on May 2, 2013. ISS Proxy Advisory Services issued a “FOR” recommendation to its clients in support of the proposal, concluding: “Given the public and sensitive nature of …
Trillium Confronts Lowe's Over Decision To Cut Ads On All-American Muslim
Recently, Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (LOW) pulled advertising from a television show, All-American Muslim, after the Florida Family Association (FFA) complained about the content of the show. The reality show follows the lives of a group of Muslim-American families in a Detroit suburb with a sizable Muslim population and addresses issues of religious intolerance and discrimination. According to reports, the FFA called the show “propaganda that riskily hides the Islamic agenda’s clear and present danger to American liberties and traditional values.” As Lowe’s shareholders, we found the company’s decision and subsequent handling of the controversy abhorrent and failed to live up to …
Largest Open Pit Mine in North America Cause for Investor Concerns– Investors Representing $170 Billion Urge EPA to Safeguard Alaska’s Bristol Bay
Trillium and Calvert-Led Investor Coalition Asks EPA for Clean Water Act (CWA) Review for Pebble Copper and Gold Mine, Sited for the Headwaters of the Bristol Bay Fishery Reserve. BOSTON///April 12, 2011///Nearly 30 investor organizations representing over $170 billion in assets are urging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to initiate a review process under the Clean Water Act to evaluate the mine waste impacts of the proposed Pebble Mine on Alaska’s Bristol Bay watershed, which produces roughly half of the world’s commercial supply of wild sockeye salmon. Led by Trillium Asset Management Corp. (Trillium) and Calvert Investments (Calvert), the …
Trillium's Influence Registers in National Debate on Open Internet
Shareholders who believe open Internet policies are critical to the health of America’s economy and society are making an impression in the heated discussion and debate about the future of the Internet currently underway in Washington, D.C. Roll Call, the influential newspaper and online publication that covers Capitol Hill, noted this week that the “net neutrality debate is stirring up passions across the spectrum from an order of Benedictine nuns in Kansas to lobbying giants such as AT&T.” Roll Call reports that “some supporters of strong net neutrality rules that apply to wireless broadband are taking their case right to …
Investors to Telecom Companies: Do the Right Thing and Let Shareholders Vote on Open, Free Internet Access for All
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 13, 2010 Investors to Telecom Companies: Do the Right Thing and Let Shareholders Vote on Open, Free Internet Access for All NEW YORK – A group of investors – ranging from Mike D of the Beastie Boys to the Benedictine Sisters of Mount St. Scholastica of Atchison, Kansas – has filed proposals with the nation’s largest telecom companies calling for shareholder votes on net neutrality policies that would maintain open access to the Internet on wireless networks. The latest proposal regarding wireless networks was filed last week (Dec. 10) by shareholders of Comcast Corporation. Similar proposals …
Trillium Calls for Improved Working Conditions in China
Trillium Asset Management Corporation (Trillium) is leading a group of 40 international investors in issuing a public statement condemning abusive workplace conditions in the global electronics supply chain. The lead group of investors, including Trillium, the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, Boston Common Asset Management, LLC, As You Sow and Domini Social Investments LLC, are sending a strong message to the electronics manufacturers in their portfolios urging stricter supply chain compliance. The statement, which follows many years of work on human rights in supply chains, was prompted by the recent suicides at the Foxconn Technology Group factories in China which manufacture consumer electronics …
Institutional Investors Learn More About Trillium's Pioneering Work on Internet Freedom
RiskMetrics Group’s “Sustainability Risk Monitor” – widely read by the influential institutional investor community – used its cover story this month to give in depth coverage to Open MIC’s 2010 open and free Internet shareholder campaign. Open MIC, which Trillium founded, is coordinating proposals at AT&T, Verizon, Qwest, Comcast and many other companies in an effort to protect the free and open architecture of the Internet. This principle, also know as Network Neutrality, is critical for those who work for a more sustainable society. It helps preserve the Internet as a level playing field where individuals and groups can speak …
Trillium Joins ICCR in Challenging Efforts to Kill Healthcare Reform
November 13, 2009 – As the healthcare reform debate in Congress shifts to the U.S. Senate, leading faith-based and concerned institutional investors including Trillium Asset Management Corporation, are pressuring 36 major companies – including Merck, Wal-Mart, McDonald’s, AT&T, IBM and General Electric — to state publicly if the U.S. Chamber speaks for them in its aggressive campaign to kill efforts to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system. Significantly, all of the companies had previously agreed at the urging of shareholders to embrace healthcare principles that are now inconsistent with the anti-reform stance of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on health care …
Trillium Leads Social Investment Forum Effort to Support Proxy Access
Shareowners of corporate stock supposedly have their interests represented by elected board of directors. But we are not allowed to nominate directors to the ballot, unless we bear the costs of a “proxy fight,” expending hundreds of thousands of dollars to each shareholder ourselves. Therefore in practice, shareholders are represented by management’s handpicked nominees. While there are other barriers to meaningful corporate elections, the costs associated with an independent proxy solicitation is perhaps the most significant barrier. For the first time, however, the possibility of meaningful reform is real. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is currently considering whether to …
Trillium Demonstrates Leadership on Profound SEC Change for Corporate Board Elections
On Wednesday July 1, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) took the very important step of voting to eliminate broker discretionary voting for director elections. This rather arcane sounding rule change is actually central to efforts to hold boards of directors more accountable to shareholders and the stakeholders they represent. Until this change, if a broker in possession of a shareholder’s proxy had not received the shareholder’s instruction on how to cast his or her votes for directors, the broker would decide how to cast the vote. Invariably it would be cast in accordance with management’s recommendation – i.e. for …
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