[ [link removed] ]Don't let Wall Street silence activists

Tell SEC commissioners:
"Shareholder resolutions are a crucial way for shareholders to hold
corporations accountable. Changing SEC Rule 14a-8 would silence
shareholder activism and protect big corporations from the consequences of
their actions. Withdraw changes to SEC Rule 14a-8."

Add your name:

[ [link removed] ]Sign the petition ►

Dear Jack,

[ [link removed] ]Don't let Wall Street
silence activists

Wall Street is trying to silence the voices of progressive activists, and
Trump's handpicked Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chair is
helping.

Shareholder resolutions have forced Fortune 500 corporations to ban
discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, promote transparency,
improve racial diversity and confront climate change. But now, after
lobbying from corporate CEOs, the SEC proposed new rules that make
activists jump through increasingly difficult hoops in order to introduce
and pass shareholder resolutions.^1,2

We can't let the SEC help Wall Street crush the shareholder activists who
hold major corporations accountable. We need to speak out against this
awful proposal now, while the SEC is still accepting public input.

[ [link removed] ]Tell the SEC: Don't help Wall Street crush activists. Click here to
sign the petition.

The SEC is supposed to protect people from Wall Street. It is doing the
opposite. In the past, the SEC made sure shareholders – from mom-and-pop
investors to the pension funds of teachers and firefighters – can propose
and pass resolutions demanding changes from the company they own stock in.
But under the leadership of Trump's handpicked SEC chair Jay Clayton, the
SEC is helping corporations hide their actions and escape accountability
from shareholders. The Sierra Club recently sued the SEC to find out how
the watchdog routinely allows corporations to exclude shareholder
resolutions that force them to confront climate change.^3

Shareholder resolutions are a powerful tool for holding corporations
accountable. Many standard practices today – including banning
discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, allowing shareholders
to hold a vote on excessive CEO pay and banning conflicts of interests
among board members – began as shareholder resolutions. And shareholders
continue to push corporations to do better on racial and gender diversity,
climate change, environmental and labor practices, disclosure of political
spending, and far, far more.^4

The new SEC proposal would help corporations crack down on these
shareholder resolutions by limiting who is eligible to submit new ones and
rejecting previous resolutions unless they gain immense popularity over a
short period of time. It would even give corporations a say in which
resolutions to recommend to shareholders – akin to letting Donald Trump
edit the New York Times opinion page.^5

Right now, the proposal is open for public comment and the narrowly
divided SEC gives us a chance to block the new rules. Trump's SEC chair
wants to let Wall Street CEOs write the rules governing who can hold them
accountable, and we cannot let that happen.

Tell the SEC: Don't help Wall Street crush activists. Click below to sign
the petition:

[ [link removed] ][link removed]

Thank you for speaking out,

Heidi Hess, Co-Director
[ [link removed] ]CREDO Action from Working Assets

Add your name:

[ [link removed] ]Sign the petition ►

References:

 1. Ganesh Setty, "[ [link removed] ]Shareholders would have tougher time submitting
resolutions under SEC’s proposed rule," CNBC, Nov. 5, 2019.
 2. Lisa Woll, "[ [link removed] ]The SEC wants to change the rules for filing
shareholder motions — for no good reason," MarketWatch, Nov. 5, 2019.
 3. Hazel Bradford, "[ [link removed] ]Sierra Club sues SEC over denial of
climate-related shareholder resolutions," Pensions & Investments, Oct.
25, 2019.
 4. Woll, "[ [link removed] ]The SEC wants to change the rules for filing shareholder
motions — for no good reason."
 5. Ibid.

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