Amazon has some shareholders who are requesting the online seller to make its 'policies and goals' clear with regards to the pay gap between its male and female workers. They want to hold a plain non-binding vote on a 58-word resolution.
However, the giant online marketer does not want that such vote will take place. In its January letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company argued that the resolution was very "vague" and not worthy to be considered by its shareholders.
Arjuna Capital, an activist investor, proposed that the giant online seller create a report and plan that will ensure that all of its workers are paid equally, regardless of their sex. In response, Amazon filed a request to the SEC to have Arjuna's proposal be excluded from its shareholder vote which is scheduled in June.
The SEC responded on Friday by rejecting the plea for omission of Amazon by labeling the gender pay gap a "significant social policy issue." With this SEC ruling, there are no more impediments for the hearing of the motion in Amazon's forthcoming shareholders meeting.
"Companies need to wake up and start being pro-active about gender pay equity," said Natasha Lamb, in a phone interview. She is Arjuna's director of equity research and shareholder engagement.
"It is a social justice issue, and it's a business issue - it's that sweet spot where investors can speak up and say 'this is no longer OK," she added.
It is not only Amazon which Arjuna is taking issue with regards to unequal gender pay. The organization has also brought this issue to large companies such as Facebook and eBay. It wants these business entities to close the pay gap between genders.
Arjuna has already made appeals to 7 big tech companies in its bid to close any possible wage gap. To the credit of Apple and Intel, they complied immediately when Arjuna approached them with the proposal.
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