Corporate America Can’t Handle Any Form of Dissent
Shareholder activism is a limited tool for mitigating the worst abuses of corporations. But now, major business groups are fighting to restrict people’s ability to engage even in that.
A businessman walks down Wall Street outside the New York Stock Exchange before the closing bell on May 6, 2010 in New York City. (Mario Tama / Getty Images)
Last summer the Business Roundtable (BRT) announced it had turned over a new leaf and that, moving forward, it would honor all stakeholders. It sure has a funny way of showing so. Instead of “respect[ing] the people in our communities” and “protect[ing] the environment by embracing sustainable practices,” the BRT has teamed up with the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) to throttle what little voice stakeholders have in shaping business practices.
The BRT and NAM are the muscle behind a recent move by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) — led by Donald Trump nominee Jay Clayton — to change the rules regarding the rights of shareholders to advance corporate reform proposals and the role of proxy advisers, who facilitate the annual voting process for investors.
The new restrictions, first released last November and set to be finalized soon, would make it more difficult for small investors to submit shareholder proposals, reduce the number of proposals shareholders are allowed to submit to one per year, and limit the ability of shareholders to re-up proposals from previous years.
This article is for subscribers only. Please login or subscribe to access our full archives and beautiful print and digital magazine starting at just $3 a month.