The third anniversary of the murder of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis police officers is fast approaching. We are reminded of the work we began nearly three years ago by filing Racial Equity Audit (REA) shareholder proposals and how much work remains. The police killings of Black people across the U.S. continue to galvanize the movement for racial justice, and corporations continue to be held accountable socially and legally for their role in furthering the economic and political repression of nonwhite communities. About two dozen Racial Equity Audits resolutions appear headed to a vote as yet once again we mourn the death of a young Black man, Tyre Nichols, who died at the hands of Memphis police officers in January.

These resolutions ask companies for an independent third-party audit analyzing adverse impacts on nonwhite stakeholders and communities of color and how companies plan to mitigate these impacts. We withdrew our proposals at Key Corp and TransUnion because they agreed to conduct audits. But we did not reach agreements with several companies and investors will vote at four companies:

• At Coca-Cola, Coke has not allowed customers to use “Black Lives Matter” in its make-your-own label promotion but allows “White Lives Matter” labels.

• Comcast recently settled a pay discrimination case involving Black and Latino employees yet sponsors an annual police foundation gala in Philadelphia.

• At GEO Group, immigrant rights groups filed a complaint last April alleging that guards at a GEO immigration detention facility made racially derogatory remarks and used excessive force.

• Valero Energy is under fire for polluting communities of color in Texas.

Companies that undertake Racial Equity Audits should retain the services of qualified law firms with extensive civil rights experience and engage external stakeholders that have no financial ties to the companies. This ensure that audits are credible once they are made public.

A wide range of investors, from religious groups, private endowments, public pension funds and labor organizations, have been calling on companies to engage in more comprehensive and credible assessments of their impacts on nonwhite stakeholders and their workforces. The Service Employees International Union Master Trust, the SOC Investment Group, Trillium Asset Management, SHARE, Parnassus Investments and several public officials on behalf of government workers’ pension funds, have been at the forefront. They have secured dozens of agreements and majority votes to conduct third-party assessments on companies’ products, policies and practices, and their impact on racial equity, civil rights and workers’ rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining. This year, investors will finally begin to see the fruits of this labor, as we expect the first reports will be public at the end of Q1.

We hope to continue to build on last year’s success and invite all shareholders to vote to hold boards accountable for perpetuating and exacerbating systemic racism and the associated risks to investors.

Edgar Hernandez
Assistant Director, Strategic Initiatives Department, Service Employees International Union

Renaye Manley
Deputy Director, Service Employees International Union