The number of shareholder resolutions seeking more disclosure about fair pay and working conditions rose sharply after 2014 and has stood at about 50 filings in each of the last two years. Most of the proposals address inequalities connected to race and gender. Women and people of color continue to earn less than their white male counterparts and the campaign to rectify these differences continues. (Workplace diversity is covered separately in this report, p. 42.)

Proposals ask for action to alleviate disparities and provide data about the nature of differential pay. Last year the New York City Comptroller’s Office and trade unions also started focusing on mandatory arbitration and the ways in which it hides sexual harassment and violence in the workplace. (Table, p. 41, lists all the resolutions.)

Many of the decent work proposals have come out of work from a group of 25 large institutional investors called the Human Capital Management Coalition, (HCMC) sponsored by the UAW Retirees’ Medical Benefits Trust, which in 2017 petitioned the SEC to require more disclosure of information about a company’s workforce and human resources policies. Members of HCMC include Trillium Asset Management, the Office of the New York City Comptroller and the AFL-CIO Office of Investment, among others.