Two of Britain’s biggest companies were given a public mauling by shareholders over pay and bonuses yesterday as the City of London’s top fund managers threatened to stage a repeat performance of the so-called ‘Shareholder Spring’ two years ago. Shareholders speaking for 38.5 percent of AstraZeneca voted against the remuneration report at the drugs group’s annual meeting. At Barclays, over a third of voting shareholders refused to endorse its pay report. Alison Kennedy, governance and stewardship director at Standard Life Investments, which voted against the package, told other investors that the company was “unconvinced” that the 2013 bonus pool was in shareholders’ best interests, “particularly when we consider how the bank’s profits are divided among employees, shareholders and ongoing investment”. Among a string of other shareholder protests yesterday, the publisher Reed Elsevier also suffered a rebuke, with just under 11 percent of voting shareholders opposing its remuneration report. (The Times)*
UK’s largest building society Nationwide announces it will sign up to Living Wage campaign
The campaign to persuade employers to pay their staff a fair wage has received a boost with the UK’s biggest building society announcing it is to sign up to the Living Wage campaign. Nationwide will become a principle partner in the scheme, meaning it will pay staff and contractors at its 700 branches the living wage of £7.65 an hour and take a leading role in the effort to persuade other organisations to follow suit. The decision is a major boost for the campaign. The director of the Living Wage Foundation, Rhys Moore, said: “We are delighted to welcome Nationwide to the Living Wage movement. As the UK’s largest building society, this move brings the living wage to high streets across the country, and showcases that the best employers are voluntarily signing up to pay the living wage now.” More than 650 organisations and businesses are accredited as living wage employers, including KPMG and Transport for London, but campaigners say Nationwide is the first high street brand to sign up. (The Guardian)
Waste
Record amount of US electronics recycled in 2013
The consumer electronics industry recycled a record 620 million pounds of electronics in the United States in 2013, according to the Third Annual Report of the eCycling Leadership Initiative by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). The total is more than double the amount of three years ago. The eCycling Leadership Initiative includes a goal to increase the amount of electronics recycled responsibly to one billion pounds annually by 2016, also known as the Billion Pound Challenge. The Initiative also plans to grow the number of collection opportunities available to consumers, improve consumer awareness of available ecycling collection sites and provide transparent metrics on ecycling efforts. “We want to make recycling electronics as easy as purchasing electronics,” said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO, CEA. “Electronics recycling is a national issue, and CEA continues to work toward a national solution to replace the complicated patchwork of rules that varies from state to state.” (Sustainable Brands)
Supply Chain
Fairtrade jewellery scheme launched for ‘ethical’ gold and silver
The Fairtrade Foundation has launched a new initiative to encourage jewellers to use ethically-sourced gold and silver, in order to revolutionise the jewellery sector. The Goldsmiths Registration Scheme will allow small jewellers, goldsmiths, silversmiths and artists to sign up for free and buy certified Fairtrade metals from artisanal and small-scale miners in a semi-finished form. According to the organisation, gold miners are among the most exploited workers in the world, with little, if any, rights. Many are forced to work in hazardous conditions, and are exposed to a dangerous environment and toxic chemicals. Reena Agarwal, commercial account manager for Fairtrade gold, said, “Collectively small jewellers have the power to transform the national market through this scheme, so we are encouraging goldsmiths from across the country to register and help Fairtrade to transform the lives of marginalised artisanal and small-scale miners through the power of their creativity.” (Blue and Green Tomorrow)
Tax
Starbucks suffers first UK sales fall after tax row
In 2013 Starbucks suffered its first drop in UK sales in 16 years, a period in which the company became the subject of boycotts and public criticism over its tax affairs. The coffee shop chain also came under fresh attack yesterday as accounts showed it had kept its controversial offshore structure that wipes out profits in the UK. The company said revenues fell by 3.4 percent in the year to September yet said the result was not because of weakness in the business but reflected the closure of unprofitable stores. The US-based company triggered a media storm, store pickets and customer boycotts after reports in October 2012 that it had told the UK tax authority its British arm was a loss-making business while informing investors that the subsidiary was profitable. (The Independent, The Guardian)
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