Here’s how and why the Comet fund bites Apple
The Cometa Fund is asking to replace the group's management in the Apple assembly, starting with CEO Tim Cook. The metalworkers' fund disputes violations of human rights and trade union freedoms
The Cometa Fund rejects the administration of Tim Cook. During the shareholders' meeting, the pension fund voted on nine items on the agenda . The fund, which owns a $65 million block of Apple stock , voted "to defend workers' rights, fair pay and transparency in corporate governance," and against the "re-election of Tim Cook as CEO and Art Levinson for President." A bad pull on the ears for the CEO of Apple who has also seen his annual compensation challenged, 1,177 times higher than an average salary.
THE COMETA FUND REPRESENTS 450,000 WORKERS
Fondo Cometa is the leading Italian pension fund, boasting about 450,000 members and 13 billion in managed pension savings. Cometa is the National Supplementary Pension Fund for workers in the engineering industry, plant installation and similar sectors and for employees in the gold and silver sector.
THE COMET FUND SAYS NO TO THE REELECTION OF TIM COOK AND ART LEVINSON
The Comet Fund, with its votes, opposed the “ re-election of Tim Cook as CEO and Art Levinson as President due to the serious concerns that remain about full trade union freedom and full respect for human rights along the Apple supply chain ”. The accusation of the Cometa Fund is supported by the study of the KnowTheChain association, engaged in the assessment of the sustainability of companies along the entire supply chain. The association would have identified two cases of alleged exploitation of forced labor at Apple suppliers. Among other things, Apple itself, in 2021, admitted to forcing its workers to sign confidentiality agreements to prevent them from reporting inappropriate corporate behavior , under the threat of retaliation and "despite the Company's assurances of" improving ".
THE COMPLAINT TO THE CHINESE SUPPLIER FOXCONN
Furthermore, the KnowTheChain report denounced that Apple's Chinese supplier, Foxconn , forced its employees to work in conditions with a high risk of contagion during the Covid-19 pandemic. The protests of the workers, worried about their health, " would have been forcibly suppressed by company supervision".
THE COMET FUND AGAINST TIM COOK'S REMUNERATION (1,177 TIMES THE AVERAGE SALARY)
Furthermore, the Cometa Fund negatively assessed the sustainability of Apple's management remuneration. The pension fund objected to CEO Tim Cook's payouts “ equal to 1,177 times median wages and salaries of workers ,” a practice contrary to the pay sustainability criteria advocated by the Fund. Furthermore, the fund points out, the ESG objectives statement is only communicated ex-post, thus preventing a clear assessment of alignment. The Fund also opposed the re-election of non-independent directors, according to internationally recognized definitions. “Non-independent directors have been in office for more than 12 years (Apple does not apply any limits to the length of office in the definition of independence).”
THE VOTES FOR THE COMETA FUND: IMPROVING THE DIALOGUE BETWEEN SHAREHOLDERS AND MANAGEMENT
The favorable vote of the Cometa Fund arrived for the proposal of the shareholder Arjuna Capital on the subject of remuneration equity, "aimed at annually publishing the differences between median salaries by race and gender, indicating the ratio between the salaries of the least represented categories compared to the most represented" and for the proposal of the National Legal and Policy Center on human rights, "aimed at requesting the preparation of an annual report on Apple's relations with the Chinese authorities". A positive vote also arrived for issues concerning the relationship between shareholders and management: the proposal of the shareholder Nia Impact Capital "aimed at adopting a policy that favors dialogue between non-executive directors and shareholders in the event that proposals presented by these the latter received a higher number of votes in favor than those against" and "the proposal by shareholder James McRitchie to amend the Articles of Association of Apple to increase the number of directors proposed by the shareholders, a dynamic that would favor greater diversity and independence of the Board". It should be remembered that Apple's current policy only allows a meeting between directors and shareholders in extraordinary cases, effectively authorizing only dialogue with management.
COMET FUND VOTES AGAINST SIEMENS, DEERE & COMPANY AND COMPASS
The Comet Fund is not new to these positions. The fund recently attended shareholders' meetings of German industrial conglomerate Siemens, British restaurant company Compass and US farm equipment maker Deere & Company. In Siemens, the Cometa fund has asked for pay equity, criticizing the compensation of the managing director; and greater attention to the protection of workers, speaking out against the appointment of Martina Merz, CEO of Thyssenkrupp , a company which – we read – “ has been, and continues to be, involved in serious disputes relating to the protection of workers' rights ”. He then criticized the compensation of the CEO of Compass in 2022, more than three hundred times higher than the average salaries of employees. Finally, as for Deere & Company, Cometa opposed the confirmation of John May in the roles of chairman and chief executive officer because "the appointment of a CEO as chairman of the board is contrary to best market practices due to the risk of potential conflicts of interest related to the delicate role of the chairman in guaranteeing the correct flow of information between management and non-executive directors”. Additionally, May's total compensation was 163 times higher than average employee salaries.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/ecco-come-e-perche-il-fondo-cometa-morsica-apple/ on Mon, 20 Mar 2023 07:29:17 +0000.