We’re the Voice!

Business groups have become anxious about workers using their voice in shareholder Annual General Meetings.

By Suzanne Hammond

Over the last few decades we have seen many national governments attempt to remove worker rights by de-regulating labour markets, making legitimate industrial action more difficult to take and reducing conditions of employment. At the same time we have seen more workers invest their money in pension schemes and superannuation funds.

Workers become Shareholders.

Money held by superannuation funds on behalf of workers now forms an important investment in the financial coffers of many large corporations. Workers and their unions are a significant body of shareholders. When faced with hostile governments worker shareholder activism provides an alternate means of securing fair work practices.

Workers and their unions can and have used their investment power to have their say in policies and decisions taken by major corporations. Workers can influence corporations to adopt fair work practices and labour standards, to maintain proper, safe work conditions and to invest ethically. Superannuation investments can give public servants the opportunity to have a say in the policies and labour standards of public/private ventures.

Unions Target Companies AGMs

The most obvious of example of workers using their financial power to have their issues heard was in the recent James Hardie campaign for compensation for asbestos victims. Other examples of worker activism in large coporations have been at Annual General Meetings of Shareholders.

The Australian Services Union recently campaigned against attempts by Qantas to increase directors fees and the Australian Workers Union campaigned to cap salaries of directors of Bluescope Steel. The ACTU also lobbied Rio Tinto about their labour practices.

Business plans to stop Unions

The new industrial tactic of influencing policies at Annual General Meetings has now caused concern amongst some in the business community. It would seem that workers using their voice in Annual General Meetings is somewhat of an annoyance.

Recently the Business Council of Australia, the Australian Institute of Company Directors and Chartered Secretaries produced a discussion paper that addresses how Annual General Meetings might be controlled or restructured. The report states that there is growing concern that AGMs are being used as a platform for conducting campaigns on single issues.

The report mentions areas of concern being a company's performance and practices particularly in the area of workplace relations and environmental management. The proposals in the Report would be a way of silencing the voice of workers or of re-directing them to less public forums.

It would seem that while worker's money is acceptable our democratic voice is not!

It looks like Unions will now have to keep their eye on company law as well as the Workplace Relations Act to make sure that changes to company rules do not rob workers of this form of industrial activism.

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October 2004 contents