In the nonbinding vote, owners holding 82% of shares opposed Zaslav’s golden parachute.
NEW YORK, NY — The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) today released a comprehensive report and statement addressing the systemic economic risks posed by skyrocketing executive compensation and the investor imperative to rein in excessive pay through proxy voting and engagement. ICCR’s report Excessive Executive Compensation: Investor Guidance spotlights the ways that status quo executive compensation trends are distorting the wider economy.
The report’s release comes at a critical juncture –for decades, the gap between executive pay and median worker compensation has widened significantly; in 1965, CEOs were paid roughly 21 times as much as a typical worker, but by 2024, that ratio had surged to approximately 281-to-1.
In 2010 the Dodd-Frank Act introduced mandatory “Say-on-Pay” advisory votes to empower shareholders on this issue as part of its wider effort to shore up systemic risk in the financial system, resulting in the decline of some problematic practices. However, overall compensation levels have not declined. A growing number of investors are increasingly alarmed that this level of disparity is now entrenched and creates systemic risks that include eroded social cohesion, political polarization, and top-heavy, sluggish economic growth.
The report highlights several critical areas where current compensation practices and investor stewardship are falling short:
- Misalignment between Pay and Performance: Research suggests a weak or even negative correlation between the explosive growth of executive pay and actual shareholder performance. Numerous performance goals are criticized for being insufficiently challenging, lacking transparency, or being prone to self-serving manipulation by executives.
- High “Say-on-Pay” Approval Rates: Despite these growing concerns and performance issues, shareholder support for these management pay proposals averaged over 90%, largely driven by support from major asset managers.
- Need for Clearer Voting Thresholds: The report also showcases investors who have adopted quantitative cutoffs, such as voting against any pay package where the CEO-to-median-worker ratio exceeds 100-to-1, or where total executive compensation exceeds $10 million.
Accompanying the report is an Investor Statement on Excessive Executive Compensation, signed by a coalition of investors with more than $113 billion in AUM. The statement calls on investors to strengthen oversight, transparency and alignment in executive pay, including by reviewing their proxy voting records and guidelines on executive compensation, and engaging with companies and across the investment ecosystem to support improved practices. The signers commit to advancing stewardship practices that account for systemic and economic risk and promote workforce stability and support mechanisms that ensure all employees participate equitably in corporate success, including employee ownership and profit-sharing policies.
“This status quo of executive pay with entrenched practices set by powerful insiders must come to an end,” said Rosanna Landis Weaver, consultant to ICCR on executive compensation. “With economic inequality and the cost of living skyrocketing, these longstanding disparities have become too important to wish away. It is high time that shareholders better utilize the power they have to bring this challenge under control and finally tackle the gaping systemic risk created by a runaway executive compensation system that is only serving those at the very top of our economy.”
“For too long, investors have either looked the other way or rubber-stamped excessive executive pay packages,” said Matthew Illian, Director of Responsible Investing at United Church Funds. “Income inequality is a systemic risk and it is critical that investors take a hard look at how we are voting on this issue. There are many organizations in the ICCR community that have worked on this issue for decades, and this Investor Guidance offer both a historical perspective and forward-looking insights for responsible investors.”
“Excessive compensation for CEOs and other executives has been an alarming trend that calls for urgent policy solutions both from the public and corporate sectors,” said Hasina Razafimahefa, Senior Manager for Research and Evaluations at NEI Investments. “Inequality introduces systemic risks that affect all investors, but it’s crucial for investors to acknowledge that we are part of the system that created these risks. At NEI, we remain committed to collaborating with companies, regulators, and fellow investors to pursue evidence-based solutions that foster a more just and sustainable economy.”
“CEO pay that far outpaces the earnings of working people raises serious concerns for the long-term health of our economy and society,” said Gina Falada, Associate Director of the Advancing Worker Justice program at ICCR. “Investors are increasingly examining these disparities and their broader impacts. This report and related outreach are designed to support more thoughtful engagement on balanced and sustainable approaches to executive compensation.”
About the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR)
The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) is a broad coalition of more than 300 institutional investors collectively representing over $4 trillion in invested capital. ICCR members, a cross-section of faith-based investors, asset managers, pension funds, foundations, and other long-term institutional investors, have over 50 years of experience engaging with companies on environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) issues that are critical to long-term value creation. ICCR members engage hundreds of corporations annually in an effort to foster greater corporate accountability. Visit our website www.iccr.org and follow us on LinkedIn, and Bsky.
A group of Alphabet shareholders are pressing the company to explain how it governs and controls the use of its technology and cloud services by governments for surveillance after the tech giant rejected calls for greater disclosure.
Why is voting proxy ballots so important?
The shareholder proposal process allows both large and small shareholders to alert corporate boards and the investor community to their concerns and to request timely action on emerging, or neglected, issues. A key element of process allows shareholders who meet certain criteria to submit proposals for inclusion in the company’s proxy statement for a vote by all shareholders holding voting shares.
Every year, members of the ICCR community file between 300 – 500 of these shareholder proposals on a range of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues. Resolutions that make it onto corporate proxy ballots then go on to a vote of all shareholders at corporate annual general meetings (AGMs), which generally occur each year in the spring. Votes in favor of shareholder resolutions in the double digits are very successful in focusing management and investor attention on ESG issues.
ICCR has created this webpage as a service in response to the SEC’s decision to limit the use of EDGAR by investors filing Notices of Exempt Solicitations where the investor’s holdings in the company soliciting votes for its annual meeting are less than $5 million. ICCR members and allies who are involved in and supportive of ICCR priority issues may request that ICCR post exempt solicitations or proxy memos presenting their case in support of shareholder resolutions they have sponsored, their exempt solicitations regarding board votes, or opposition to certain management resolutions. All shareholders are ultimately responsible for making their own independent voting decisions.
ICCR receives no compensation for posting materials. As ICCR posts only the materials it receives, it makes no representation that the materials appearing on this site constitute the complete body of exempt solicitations and other notices relating to a particular shareholder proposal. ICCR does not undertake any independent review of the submitted materials or accompanying statements and makes no representation as to the veracity of the information submitted to it for posting. Statements appearing in the postings are not to be deemed voting recommendations by ICCR or its employees, officers, directors, or agents, nor shall any of those persons or the organization be liable for any damage or loss alleged to be caused by reliance on any such information.
AGM Date: 02.25.26. Deere & Co: Written Consent
AGM Date: 03.11.26. Analog Devices: Special Shareholder Meetings
AGM Date: 03.17.26. Qualcomm: Special Shareholder Meetings
AGM Date: 03.19.26. Keysight Technologies: Special Shareholder Meetings
AGM Date: 03.25.26. Starbucks: Vote Against Directors
AGM Date: 03.25.26. TD Synnex Corp: Vote Against Director
AGM Date: 03.27.26: Santander: Vote Against Directors
AGM Date: 04.08.26. Lennar Corp: Vote Against Director
AGM Date: 04.09.26. Royal Bank of Canada: Vote Against Director
AGM Date: 04.15.26. Adobe: Report on Assessing Systemic Climate Risk
AGM Date: 04.16.26. Synopsys: Written Consent
AGM Date: 04.17.26. Boeing: Right To Act By Written Consent
AGM Date: 04.21.26. Datadog, Inc.: Disadvantages of Moving to Nevada
AGM Date: 04.22.26. Bloomin’ Brands, Inc.: Disclosure of Key Human Capital Management Indicators
AGM Date: 04.22.26. Cigna: Written Consent
AGM Date: 04.22.26. SHW: Special Shareholder Meeting Proposals
AGM Date: 04.22.26. Teledyne Technologies Incorporated: Vote Against Director
AGM Date: 04.23.26: BP p.l.c.: Vote against director and Strategy Disclosure for Declining Oil and Gas Demand (posted 04.08.26)
AGM Date: 04.23.26. HCA Healthcare, Inc.: Written Consent
AGM Date: 04.23.26. HCA Healthcare, Inc.: Report on healthcare consequences and impact of its hospital acquisitions
AGM Date: 04.23.26. Select Medical Holdings Corp: Special Shareholder Meeting and Management Vote Stealing Strategy
AGM Date: 04.24.26. AGCO Corporation: Special Shareholder Meeting
AGM Date: 04.28.26. American Electric Power: Vote Against Director (posted 04.27.26)
AGM Date: 04.28.26. Autonation: GHG disclosures & targets
AGM Date: 04.28.26. IBM: Written Consent
AGM Date: 04.28.26. NatWest Group: Vote Against Director
AGM Date: 04.28.26. Prologis, Inc.: Vote Against Director (posted 03.31.26)
AGM Date: 04.28.26. The Brink’s Co.: Disclosure of Key Human Capital Management Indicators (posted 04.02.26)
AGM Date: 04.28.26. Wells Fargo: Vote yes on Dedicated Board Committee Charter on Indigenous Peoples’ Rights
AGM Date: 04.28.26. Wells Fargo: Simple Majority Vote + Reject Director Davis (posted 03.31.26)
AGM Date: 04.28.26. Wells Fargo: Disclose Climate-Related Litigation Risk (posted 04.01.26)
AGM Date: 04.29.26. AES Corp: Special Shareholder Meetings
AGM Date: 04.29.26. The Coca-Cola Company: Chemical and Food Additives (posted 04.07.26)
AGM Date: 04.29.26. Goldman Sachs: Special Shareholder Meeting Proposal (posted 03.31.26)
AGM Date: 04.29.26. Goldman Sachs: Vote Against Director (posted 04.08.26)
AGM Date: 04.29.26. Goldman Sachs: Report on lobbying (posted 04.14.26)
AGM Date: 04.29.26. Pilgrim’s Pride Corp: Racial Equity Reporting (posted 04.03.26)
AGM Date: 04.30.26. Boston Scientific Corporation: Special Shareholder Meetings
AGM Date: 04.30.26. Gilead: Patents
AGM Date: 04.30.26. Global Payments Inc.: Written Consent
AGM Date: 04.30.26. NRG Energy, Inc.: Special Shareholder Meetings
AGM Date: 04.30.26. RTX: Vote against director
AGM Date: 05.02.26. Berkshire Hathaway, Inc.: Establish Effective Oversight of Workforce Practices to Support Long-Term Value Creation (posted 03.31.26)
AGM Date: 05.02.26. Cincinnati Financial Corporation: Special Shareholder Meetings
AGM Date: 05.04.26. Asbury Automotive Group, Inc.: Special Shareholder Meetings (posted 04.08.26)
AGM Date: 05.04.26. Eli Lilly: Independent Chair (posted 04.01.26) and Lobbying Expenditures (posted 04.01.26)
AGM Date: 05.04.26. Eli Lilly: Vote Against Director (posted 05.06.26)
AGM Date: 05.05.26. Dominion Energy: Vote Against Director (posted 04.27.26)
AGM Date: 05.05.26. DT Midstream: Right to Act by Written Consent (posted 04.08.26)
AGM Date: 05.05.26: GE Aerospace: Customer Use of Defense-Related Products (posted 04.01.26)
AGM Date: 05.05.26: Skywest, Inc.: Respect for Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining (posted 04.17.26)
AGM Date: 05.05.26. Tyler Technologies, Inc.: Political Spending Disclosure (posted 03.31.26)
AGM Date: 05.06.26. Albemarle Corporation: Special Shareholder Meetings
AGM Date: 05.06.26. Ally Financial Inc.: Special Shareholder Meeting (posted 03.31.26)
AGM Date: 05.06.26. Entegris, Inc.: Special Shareholder Meetings
AGM Date: 05.06.26. General Dynamics Corporation: Vote Against Director (posted 04.07.26)
AGM Date: 05.06.26. PepsiCo: Human Rights Due Diligence (posted 04.03.26)
AGM Date: 05.06.26. Philip Morris International Inc.: Producer Responsibility for Cigarette Butt Plastic Waste (posted 04.03.26)
AGM Date: 05.06.26. Regions Financial Corporation: Special Shareholder Meetings
AGM Date: 05.06.26. Steel Dynamics, Inc.: Political Spending Disclosure (posted 05.06.26)
AGM Date: 05.06.26. WEC Energy Group, Inc.: Simple Majority Vote
AGM Date: 05.06.26. American Tower: Voting Against Directors – Political Spending Disclosure (posted 04.14.26)
AGM Date: 05.06.26. AbbVie Inc. Voting Against Directors (posted 04.14.26)
AGM Date: 05.07.26. Archer-Daniels Midland Co.: Disclosure of Pesticide Use Data in Regenerative Agriculture Program (posted 04.02.26)
AGM Date: 05.07.26. Cadence Design Systems, Inc.: Vote Against Director (posted 03.31.26)
AGM Date: 05.07.26. Crown Holdings, Inc.: Shareholder Right to Act by Written Consent (posted 03.31.26)
AGM Date: 05.07.26. Duke Energy: Vote Against Director (posted 04.27.26)
AGM Date: 05.07.26. Eastman Chemical Company: Special Shareholder Meetings (posted 04.09.26)
AGM Date: 05.07.26. Equifax: Special Shareholder Meetings (posted 04.14.26)
AGM Date: 05.07.26. NVR, Inc.: Special Shareholder Meetings
AGM Date: 05.07.26. NVR, Inc.: Disclose GHG Emissions
AGM Date: 05.07.26. United Parcel Service Inc.: Third-Party Environmental Justice Audit (posted 04.03.26)
AGM Date: 05.07.26. United Parcel Service Inc.: Disclose Plan to Align Operations with
Carbon Neutrality Goal (posted 04.17.26)
AGM Date: 05.07.26. Wolverine Worldwide, Inc.: New Climate Change Policies or Practices (posted 03.31.26)
AGM Date: 05.08.26. HSBC Holdings: Vote Against Directors
AGM Date: 05.08.26. Masco Corporation: Special Shareholder Meetings (posted 04.27.26)
AGM Date: 05.08.26. Timken Company: Special Shareholder Meetings
AGM Date: 05.11.26. L3 Harris Technologies, Inc.: Special Shareholder Meeting (posted 04.14.26)
AGM Date: 05.11.26. MKS Instruments: Special Shareholder Meetings (posted 04.07.26)
AGM Date: 05.12.26. Alaska Air: Vote against director (posted 04.08.26)
AGM Date: 05.12.26. Arrow Electronics: Special Shareholder Meetings (posted 04.08.26)
AGM Date: 05.12.26. IDEXX Laboratories: Special Shareholder Meetings (posted 04.08.26)
AGM Date: 05.12.26. Knight-Swift Transportation: Political Spending Disclosure (posted 04.14.26)
AGM Date: 05.12.26. TransUnion: Special Shareholder Meeting (posted 03.31.26)
AGM Date: 05.13.26. Advanced Micro Devices: Special Shareholder Meetings (posted 04.09.26)
AGM Date: 05.12.26. Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc.: Vote Against Directors (posted 04.14.26)
AGM Date: 05.13.26. Elevance Health, Inc.: Vote Against Director (posted 04.07.26)
AGM Date: 05.13.26. Elevance Health, Inc.: Partisan Political Spending Study (posted 04.08.26)
AGM Date: 05.13.26. Murphy USA, Inc.: Special Shareholder Meeting (posted 04.07.26)
AGM Date: 05.13.26. Skyworks Solutions, Inc.: Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Efforts Report (posted 04.08.26)
AGM Date: 05.13.26. Skyworks Solutions, Inc.: Vote against director (posted 04.14.26)
AGM Date: 05.13.26. Southern Company: Report on Data Center Costs (posted 04.17.26)
AGM Date: 05.13.26. Southern Company: Vote Against Director (posted 04.27.26)
AGM Date: 05.14.26. AT&T Inc.: Vote Against Director (posted 04.29.26)
AGM Date: 05.14.26. Akamai Technologies, Inc.: Political Spending Disclosure (posted 04.08.26)
AGM Date: 05.14.26. CBOE Global Markets, Inc.: Right To Act By Written Consent (posted 04.20.26)
AGM Date: 05.14.26. O’Reilly Automotive, Inc.: Political Spending Disclosure (posted 04.07.26)
AGM Date: 05.15.26. Medpace Holdings: Special Shareholder Meeting (posted 04.14.26)
AGM Date: 05.19.26. PayPal Inc.: Policy on Discriminatory Exclusion in Conflict Zones (posted 05.06.26)
AGM Date: 05.19.26. United Airlines Holdings, Inc.: Shareholder Right to Act by Written Consent (posted 04.14.26)
AGM Date: 05.19.26. Verisk Analytics: Special Shareholder Meeting (posted 04.14.26)
AGM Date: 05.20.26. Amazon.com, Inc.: Floor Proposal on Requesting the Establishment of AI Advisory Council (posted 05.13.26)
AGM Date: 05.20.26. Hyatt Hotels Corporation: Sustainable Packaging Policies for Plastics (posted 04.17.26)
AGM Date: 05.20.26. ICU Medical, Inc.: Special Shareholder Meeting (posted 04.14.26)
AGM Date: 05.20.26. Markel Group Inc.: Special Shareholder Meeting (posted 04.14.26)
AGM Date: 05.20.26. Markel Group Inc.: Mitigate Material Environmental Risks (posted 04.14.26)
AGM Date: 05.20.26. S&P Global: Special Shareholder Meeting (posted 04.14.26)
AGM Date: 05.20.26. State Street Corporation: Separate Chair & CEO (posted 04.15.26)
AGM Date: 05.20.26. The Hartford Financial Services Group: Right To Act By Written Consent (posted 04.20.26)
AGM Date: 05.20.26. Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.: Vote Against Director (posted 04.22.26)
AGM Date: 05.20.26. The Travelers Companies, Inc.: Report on Climate-Related Pricing (posted 04.22.26)
AGM Date: 05.20.26. Zoetis, Inc.: Shareholder Right to Act by Written Consent (posted 04.22.26)
AGM Date: 05.21.26. EPAM Systems, Inc.: Special Shareholder Meeting (posted 04.14.26)
AGM Date: 05.21.26. Home Depot, Inc.: Report on Packaging Policies for Plastics (posted 04.17.26)
AGM Date: 05.21.26. Home Depot, Inc.: Report on Sufficiency of Associates’ Access to Healthcare (posted 05.06.26)
AGM Date: 05.21.26. Home Depot, Inc.: Report Assessing Risks to Customers’ Data Privacy Rights (posted 05.08.26)
AGM Date: 05.21.25. Labcorp Holdings, Inc.: Vote Against Director (posted 04.22.26)
AGM Date: 05.21.25. Meritage Homes Corporation: Special Shareholder Meeting (posted 04.14.26)
AGM Date: 05.21.26. NextEra Energy, Inc.: Report on Business Alignment with the Paris Agreement (posted 04.02.26)
AGM Date: 05.21.26. Harley-Davidson: Climate Transition Plan (posted 04.14.26)
AGM Date: 05.22.26. Honeywell International: Shareholder Right to Act by Written Consent (posted 04.22.26)
AGM Date: 05.27.26. Chevron Corporation: Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Effectiveness Report (posted 04.17.26)
AGM Date: 05.27.26. ExxonMobil Corporation: Vote Against Redomiciliation from NJ to TX (posted 05.13.26)
AGM Date: 05.27.26. Meta Platforms: One Share, One Vote (posted 04.22.26)
AGM Date: 05.27.26. Meta Platforms: Disaggregate Voting Results by Share Class (posted 04.28.26)
AGM Date: 05.27.26. Meta Platforms: Report on Addressing Antisemitism (posted 04.28.26)
AGM Date: 05.27.26. Meta Platforms: Report on Human Rights Due Diligence (posted 04.28.26)
AGM Date: 05.27.26. Meta Platforms: Report on Climate Change-Related Commitments (05.06.26)
AGM Date: 05.27.26. Otis Worldwide Corp.: Political Contributions (posted 04.27.26)
AGM Date: 05.27.26. Tenet Healthcare Corporation: Vote Against Director (posted 04.22.26)
AGM Date: 05.28.26. Dollar General Corporation: Human Rights Policy (posted 05.14.26)
AGM Date: 05.29.26. Lowes: Sustainable Packaging Policies (posted 05.06.26)
AGM Date: 05.29.26. Digital Realty Trust Inc.: Enhanced Water Risk Disclosure (posted 04.29.26)
AGM Date: 06.02.26. General Motors: Report on Human Rights Standards for Indigenous Peoples (posted 05.07.26)
AGM Date: 06.03.26. Residio Technologies, Inc.: Right To Act By Written Consent (posted 05.05.26)
AGM Date: 06.04.26. EMCOR Group, Inc.: Vote Against Director (posted 05.06.26)
AGM Date: 06.04.26. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.: Vote Against Director (posted 05.06.26)
AGM Date: 06.04.26. Walmart Inc.: Report on Impacts of U.S. Immigration Policy and Enforcement on Operations (posted 05.06.26)
AGM Date: 06.05.26. Alphabet, Inc.: Report on Climate Commitments Given Growing Data Center Energy Demand (posted 04.28.26)
AGM Date: 06.05.26. Alphabet, Inc.: Report on Impacts of U.S. Immigration Policy and Enforcement on Operations (posted 05.06.26)
AGM Date: 06.05.26. Alphabet, Inc.: AI Board Oversight (posted 05.06.26)
AGM Date: 06.05.26. Alphabet, Inc.: Report on Oversight of Customer and User Data (posted 05.07.26)
AGM Date: 06.05.26. Alphabet, Inc.: Preventing Material Risks from AI-generated Misinformation (posted 05.13.26)
AGM Date: 06.09.26. Stifel Financial Corp.: Vote Against Directors (posted 05.08.26)
AGM Date: 06.10.26. Fidelity National Financial, Inc.: Vote Against Director (posted 04.22.26)
AGM Date: 06.10.26 MarketAxess Holdings Inc.: Special Shareholder Meetings (posted 05.13.26)
AGM Date: 06.10.26. Target Corp.: Reduce Plastic Microfiber Shedding (posted 05.08.26)
AGM Date: 06.10.26. Target Corp.: Measuring Pesticide Use in Agricultural Supply Chains (posted 05.13.26)
AGM Date. 06.10.26. Thomson Reuters Corp.: Human Rights Impact Assessment (posted 05.13.26)
AGM Date: 06.11.26. Graphic Packaging Holdings: Special Shareholder Meeting (posted 05.06.26)
AGM Date: 06.11.16. Monolithic Power Systems, Inc.: Vote Against Director (posted 05.13.26)
AGM Date: 06.12.26. Fortinet, Inc.: Vote Against Director (posted 05.06.26)
AGM Date: 06.15.26. Datadog, Inc.: Vote Against Director (posted 05.13.26)
AGM Date: 06.15.26. HubSpot, Inc.: Special Shareholder Meeting (posted 5.06.26)
AGM Date: 06.15.26. WorkDay, Inc: Disclosure of Employee Retention Rates (posted 5.14.26)
AGM Date: 06.16.26. Block, Inc.: Establishing Board-Level Technology Committee (posted 05.07.26)
AGM Date: 06.16.26. Mastercard Incorporated: Special Shareholder Meetings (posted 05.13.26)
AGM Date: 06.17.26. CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc.: Vote Against Director (posted 05.13.26)
AGM Date: TBD. BJ’s Wholesale Deforestation Risks (posted 05.13.26)
Our Guide features ICCR member-sponsored proposals for 2026 corporate proxies along with a preliminary overview of the proxy season. Please feel free to share this resource widely with your networks. And, if you are an investor, we urge you to exercise your shareholder rights by voting your proxies.
In his career as a Jesuit, Father Bryan Pham has delved into ministry after ministry that tackles the question: What, actually, is success? What is winning?
Please join us on Friday, 3/20 from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm ET for a preview of ICCR members’ 2026 shareholder proposals and our 2026 Proxy Resolutions and Voting Guide.
Our webinar will help contextualize the more than 400 resolutions filed by ICCR members for this proxy season, with a deeper discussion by proponents of the rationale for key initiatives.
Learn about ICCR member resolutions on the following topics:
- The impacts of growing AI-driven data center energy demand, including a shifting of costs for new data center construction onto residential consumers, and an expansion of fossil-fuel infrastructure;
- The human rights risks for companies involved in U.S. immigrant detention and deportation, and the reputational risks faced by retail stores where day laborers who gather for hire are vulnerable to federal immigration raids;
- How growing regulatory pressure, litigation, and consumer demand for transparency are creating risks for food and beverage companies using additives in their products; and,
- The necessity of strong guardrails for AI to prevent and mitigate potential legal, reputational, and customer trust risks.
As always, there will be a Q&A after the presentations where you will be invited to ask questions of the presenters.
All registrants will receive a link to download the Guide following the webinar.
SAFETY & CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT:
ICCR grants access to this webinar only to registered users whose identities have been verified beforehand. To attend, you must register using your name, email address and organization/affiliation. We will be manually confirming the identify of participants who have signed up to attend and reserve the right to remove any person.
Advancing a binding ILO Convention to protect platform workers, prevents a race to the bottom in labor standards, and secures fair, decent work in the digital economy
NEW YORK, NY — The International Labor Organization (ILO) issued its Blue Report last week, which is a draft Convention and Recommendations related to decent work in the platform economy. As investors, we believe the goal of negotiations should be clear: to adopt a Convention and Recommendation that protects workers, and thus helps mitigate operational, legal, and reputational risks, which helps investors, fulfill their fiduciary duty to manage long-term value and protect assets. The Convention must avoid unnecessary caveats or exceptions that weaken its meaning or implementation, and deliver substantive protections that can be applied in practice.
Following this release, ICCR issued an Investor Statement in Support of a Binding Convention on Decent Work in the Platform Economy, supported by 200 investors representing over $2.3 trillion in assets under management and advisement. Investors support the adoption of a robust, binding Convention, supplemented by a Recommendation, promoting decent work in the platform economy at the next International Labour Conference in June 2026. International labor standards create a level playing field across countries and business models, providing legal certainty and reducing regulatory and reputational risks. Investors support a binding international convention that ensures support for labor rights, social protections and dignity for all workers in the platform economy.
The investor statement makes the case that “…effective regulation of platform work can also contribute to inclusive and sustainable economic growth. Evidence shows that worker-protective labor laws can have positive impacts on productivity and employment, while helping to reduce earnings inequality. Bringing digital platform companies within national regulatory frameworks can also increase tax revenues and strengthen contributions to social protection systems, benefitting societies as a whole. A strong regulatory framework for platform work could mitigate the systemic social risks that are associated with inequality.”
A recent World Bank report estimated that as many as one in eight workers worldwide are employed through digital platforms, a dramatic increase since 2019. These workers constitute a massive and growing share of the global labor force and are disproportionately impacted by the pitfalls of the current globalized economy including chronic precarity of employment, weakened or non-existent bargaining power and deregulated workplace safety.
In the face of these trends, investors, labor unions and worker advocates have increasingly called for a binding international convention on the rights of gig and platform workers that would establish the sort of clarity, regularity and cohesion across global labor markets to protect platform workers and foster a more durable economic stability worldwide.
Nadira Narine, Senior Director for Strategic Initiatives at the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR)
“A strong Convention to secure labor rights for gig and platform work is crucial for safeguarding investments. Exploitative labor practices like low pay that spark labor unrest, misclassification of workers that create legal and regulatory risk, and the opacity that comes with algorithmic management are all a raw deal for workers and create financial and systemic risks that threaten the wider economy. We support a robust, worker-informed Convention to brings dignity, fairness, clarity, and long-term stability to the platform economy.”
Tuy Sythieng, General Secretary of Cambodian Food and Service Workers’ Federation (CFSWF)
“A strong ILO Convention on Platform Work is vital for all platform workers in Cambodia, especially food delivery Workers. Currently, Cambodia lacks specific laws to protect us. Although we are essential to the national economy and company profits, we are often overlooked by both the government and private firms. I truly believe that a strong International Labour Conference (ILC) convention will provide the protection we need to ensure job security, income security, and social protection.”
Father Seamus Finn, Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate of the U.S. Province
“Respect for human dignity in work contributes to a successful economic system. Pope Leo himself has placed a strong emphasis on the ‘defense of human dignity, justice and labor’ and has been open about his concerns about the impacts that modern technologies can have on the lives and safety of workers around the world. These concerns will only grow more pressing as technologies that impact the workforce proliferate and platform workers become an ever-increasing share of the global workforce. It is essential global organizations meant to protect the rights and dignity of workers keep these concerns in mind.”
Tamara Hardegger, Managing Director for the Swiss Association for Responsible Investing
“Just as human rights apply universally to all persons, fundamental workers’ rights must be afforded to all workers, irrespective of their designation, categorization, or contractual classification.”
Lucia Lopez, Senior Analyst, Responsible Investing, NEI Investments
“Platform work has intensified vulnerabilities long associated with informal employment, amplifying systemic risks and leaving millions of workers exposed to precarious conditions, opaque algorithmic management, limited social protection, and few avenues for remedy. In an evolving labour market, a strong, binding convention centered on decent work in the platform economy is essential. Strong worker protections are the foundation of a strong economy.”
Vincent Kaufmann, CEO of Ethos
“Institutional investors with long term liabilities and globally diversified portfolios may be exposed to risks linked to weak labor standards fueling inequality, legal uncertainty and social instability. A binding ILO Convention for decent work in the platform economy is therefore not only a human rights responsibility but essential for long term value creation, systemic stability and mitigation of financially material risks.”
Maggie Mthombeni, Organizer, Izwi Domestic Workers Alliance in South Africa
“In a sector notoriously rife with human rights violations and labour exploitation, domestic workers in South Africa have had to fight tooth and nail to earn the right to such basic workplace protections as unemployment insurance (UIF) and workers compensation for injury (COIDA).
As cleaning and care work globally is moving onto digital platorms, an ILO convention will play a critical role in shaping the future of the sector. If proper regulations and enforcement are in place to ensure decent working conditions, platforms actually have the potential to play a positive long-term role in formalising the domestic work sector. However, if loopholes allow companies to continue the current trajectory of exploiting app-based workers, the growing shift towards platform work could potentially strip care workers of those fundamental rights.”
Natalie Wasek, Director of Corporate Social Responsibility, Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia
“All workers have a right to safe, dignified work, and this requires centering workers’ voices by ensuring they have meaningful power, representation, and leadership in the decisions that shape their working conditions and livelihoods. A strong Convention that is informed by and addresses the concerns of platform workers globally would help ensure that digital labor systems uphold human rights, promote equity and accountability, and center the voices of workers in shaping the future of work.”
About the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR)
The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) is a broad coalition of more than 300 institutional investors collectively representing over $4 trillion in invested capital. ICCR members, a cross-section of faith-based investors, asset managers, pension funds, foundations, and other long-term institutional investors, have over 50 years of experience engaging with companies on environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) issues that are critical to long-term value creation. ICCR members engage hundreds of corporations annually in an effort to foster greater corporate accountability. Visit our website www.iccr.org and follow us on LinkedIn and Bsky.
In response to the anti-immigrant policies of the U.S. administration, the killing of civilians by federal agents and the increasing rollback of constitutional rights, ICCR issued the following statement:
The recent violence we have seen in Minnesota, Maine, California, Illinois and elsewhere in our country shocks the conscience. Deeply rooted constitutional protections and values including the rights to protest and freely express our beliefs, due process and our understanding of ourselves as a proud nation of immigrants have been under attack, as exemplified by masked federal agents aggressively deployed in cities and around the country.
At the same time the courage, integrity and solidarity shown by communities, faith leaders and local businesses in these places has been profoundly inspiring. As faith- and values-based investors, we believe the business community, including investors, has a moral and business imperative to use its public platforms to call on the federal government to end these excessively aggressive policies. This is a time for many in the business community in particular to set aside a more passive posture and to use their influence to help our country chart a better course.
We call on investors to engage portfolio companies on the potential operational, financial and reputational risks stemming from involvement with current immigration policies and enforcement actions by the federal administration.
We call on our portfolio companies to adopt policies, systems and processes that publicly and clearly advocate for and ensure the rights of immigrant workers in their own operations and supply chains. We also call on them to use their voices and influence across the country to call for an end to the administration’s aggressive policies.
And we reiterate our calls for Congress to ensure that the human rights of immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers, and that the rights enshrined in the U.S. Constitution of due process for all be upheld. We repeat our longstanding calls for Congress to do its job and pass comprehensive and humane immigration reform.
These aggressive deployments of federal agents are a moral outrage that threaten lives, democracy and the economy. The federal administration’s approach is inhumane and, in many cases, has been in clear violation of the law. That approach is also self-defeating for the economy, with reports of small business corridors across the country seeing business plummet and nationwide economic growth shrinking as a direct result of ICE’s overreach. Further, employees are calling on their companies to not be complicit, and recent polling indicate the American public is disgusted and fatigued by that overreach and demands the administration change course.
At ICCR, we will continue to work with our members to make this case to business leaders and policymakers across the country. We know that a more sensible and humane approach to immigration policy and a more durable and sustainably prosperous economy are twin goals, inextricably bound together.
ICCR is proud and honored to represent a wide range of diverse faith communities. Across that range, we are unequivocally and invariably called to welcome our sisters and brothers with love and compassion, regardless of their place of birth, religion or race.
A group of Home Depot (HD.N), opens new tab investors is asking the company to review its partnership with surveillance firm Flock Safety and state how its data is used and shared with law enforcement, following reports by an independent media outlet that the vendor’s data has been used in Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigations.
Home Depot locations have become hotbeds for ICE arrests, after U.S. Homeland Security Adviser Stephen Miller said the agency should target the home improvement chain, where migrant day laborers are known to gather.