Global Proxy Watch
June 30, 2000
Fast Pace. A rare, international alliance of
social fund managers and unions can now claim victory using
shareowner activism. Last week a majority of Imerys employees at
two plants on the outskirts of Birmingham, Alabama voted to ask the
Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International
Union (PACE) to represent them. The ballot ends a bitter dispute.
Walden Asset Management had launched a shareowner campaign charging
Paris-based Imerys with trying to suppress trade unions (GPW May
19, 2000). Walden's intervention was among the first times a social
investing institution had used its share rights to raise workforce
issues at a European AGM. At the same time, PACE got French and
English unions to pressure the company, and reported all progress
on a website tailored to the cause: www.imerys-workers.org. The mix
of labor and investor action proved potent. Management allowed a
free campaign and vote, and pledged to Walden in May that it would
abide by the result. Expect more such alliances.