Posts tagged ESG
Republican challenge to ESG investing rule could showcase risk to US agency powers
July 10, 2024 // The high court did just that in a June ruling in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, saying judges instead should exercise their independent judgment in evaluating agency rules. That decision is expected to have a widespread impact on the government's ability to adopt new rules such as environmental, securities and labor regulations, and is part of a broader effort by conservative groups to rein in the powers of what they call "the administrative state."
Has Pushback to Full of ‘S’ Labor Unions Finally Arrived?
June 10, 2024 // Written by I4AW’s Sam Adolphsen and F. Vincent Vernuccio, the study warns that the initial “Environmental” focus of ESG is being supplanted by labor leaders, who are focusing on the leftist acronym’s “social” component in order to intimidate companies and force membership growth: With help from the whole of Biden’s big government, Big Labor is replicating the ESG strategies used by environmentalists and other activists. These groups aim to cajole fossil fuel-producing companies and other businesses they consider socially unacceptable into abandoning profitable business ventures. The tactics of the Big Labor plan call for hijacking the shareholder resolution process through proxy voting and shareholder activism to force pro-union policies. Unlike typical shareholder proposals, those supported by Big Labor do not seek to advance shareholder value. Instead, they seek to increase union membership and strengthen Big Labor’s power.
InfluenceWatch Podcast #314: ESG’s Labor Angle
April 29, 2024 // I’m fond of saying—it’s in my Twitter bio—that “there’s always a labor angle.” From bad MLB umpiring to anti-anti-Hamas demonstrations, Big Labor is there. So I am the least surprised person to discover that the left-wing environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) activist investing movement is backstopped in part by and operates in service of Big Labor and its Everything Leftist agenda. Joining me and my colleague Robert Stilson, who studies the ESG movement for Capital Research Center, is Vinnie Vernuccio of the Institute for the American Worker.
NY Post: Unions are Using ESG to Control Workers
April 11, 2024 // Op-ed: Unions are Using ESG to Control Workers- and Drain Americans’ Retirement Savings Published in the New York Post March 21, 2024 by F. Vincent Vernuccio and Sam Adolphsen ESG has claimed its latest victims: Starbucks workers. In the days leading up to the company’s annual meeting…
Unions using ESG to control workers — and drain Americans’ retirement savings
March 21, 2024 // They’re pushing board nominees and shareholder proposals that aim to force more workers into union membership, even when workers don’t want it. The Biden administration has smoothed the path for this underhanded strategy, and not only does it threaten workers, it endangers millions of Americans’ retirement savings. A new Institute for the American Worker report shines a light on labor unions’ reliance on ESG.
REPORT: Big Labor’s Push to Force Investment Managers to Ignore Fiduciary Duty and Promote Unions
March 21, 2024 // Click here to download the report. REPORT: “The Next President Will Face an Emerging ESG Threat; Big Labor’s Push to Force Investment Managers and Publicly Traded Companies to Ignore Fiduciary Duty and Promote Unions” by Sam Adolphsen and F. Vincent Vernuccio President Biden…
The rise and fall of ESG investing
November 9, 2023 // Ideologically aligned investments are risky. Fink and others now seem to understand that. There’s a role for ESG investing if people want it, with the risks and realities clearly explained up front. As the conversation moves forward on rulemaking, regulation and what the law should be, the fiduciary responsibility that money managers have to their clients to produce the greatest possible return on investment must remain the paramount consideration.
Biden ESG rule survives challenge from 25 red states
September 24, 2023 // Kacsmaryk’s 14-page ruling rejects the red states’ argument that the environmental and sustainable governance (ESG) rule violates the Administrative Procedure Act and the Employment Retirement Income Security Act, which regulates retirement plans. He wrote that the Biden administration rule still complies with those statutes, because it prioritizes financial considerations over environmental ones and thus has no “overarching regulatory bias in favor of ESG strategies.” “[W]hile the Court is not unsympathetic to Plaintiffs’ concerns over ESG investing trends, it need not condone ESG investing generally or ultimately agree with the Rule to reach this conclusion,” he wrote.
ESG Is a Front for Labor
July 24, 2023 // House Republicans have declared July “ESG month,” planning hearings and bills to push back against politicized environmental, social, and governance investing. Yet so far, lawmakers have almost exclusively focused on environmental issues. Republicans should also pay attention to the “S” in ESG, which labor unions are using to advance their agenda at the expense of workers, their own members, and even taxpayers — a problem that President Biden has significantly worsened. The 2023 proxy season, which started in January and ended in June, shows the union campaign in action. Union funds and their allies, such as the New York City Employees’ Retirement System and like-minded investment managers, introduced many ESG-focused shareholder proposals designed to accelerate unionization. Consider Apple, which was targeted by five New York City pension funds, multiple investment managers, and the SEIU Master Trust Pension Plan, among others.
Labor secretary nominee defends ESG rule in tense House testimony
June 9, 2023 // Mr. Allen introduced a bill last year with Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., similar in scope to a rule finalized late in the Trump administration that said retirement plan fiduciaries could not invest in "non-pecuniary" vehicles that sacrifice investment returns or take on additional risk. Mr. Allen said he's working on reintroducing the bill during this Congress. Under the Biden administration, the Labor Department rescinded the Trump-era rule. On Tuesday, Ali Khawar, principal deputy assistant secretary of the Labor Department's Employee Benefits Security Administration, said the rule is neutral and doesn't require consideration of ESG factors when making an investment decision.