Last week, our Social Issues Update covered the topic of clothing retailers and their fur policies.  Retailers like JCPenney, Sears, Urban Outfitters and Gap and fashion designers like Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein are some of the many leaders in the clothing industry who have adopted fur-free policies.

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) had a shareholder proposal up for vote at Kohl’s annual meeting last Thursday. The proposal asked Kohl’s to develop a policy by the end of the year to discontinue the sale of products that use animal fur. The proposal was supported by 3% of shareholders.  Although Kohl’s may not make any immediate changes (only time will tell), the 3% vote does leave the door open for conversations with the company and allows the resolution to be voted on again next year by shareholders.

Not happy with the results at Kohl’s?  Join HSUS in asking Kohl’s for a fur-free policy by signing the letter to management on Moxy Vote.

Next up, Macy’s annual meeting on May 18th. The HSUS has a resolution up for vote on Macy’s ballot asking Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s to commit to phasing out the use of raccoon dog fur in their clothing products. Raccoon dog fur is reportedly the most falsely-advertised and mislabeled type of fur.

Own stock in Macy’s? Be sure to vote your proxy ballot on Moxy Vote with your 12 digit control number before May 17th. Not a shareholder but still want to take action? Join HSUS in asking Macy’s to phase out fur by signing the letter to management.

Burger King, the nation’s second largest food chain, recently announced its commitment to switch to cage free eggs and to only use pork products from pigs that are not kept in gestation crates. Burger King’s commitment is the latest accomplishment from continued pressure from the U.S. food industry and groups like The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) for more humane treatment of animals in the food-service industry.

Burger King’s competitors McDonald’s and Wendy’s are among some of the other companies who have previously made the same commitment.

Wayne Pacelle, president of HSUS, was quoted in this USA Today article: “So many tens of thousands of animals will now be in better living conditions. Numerically this is significant because Burger King is such a big purchaser of these products.”

We’ve covered the topic of gestation crates in our Newsletters and blog posts before, so we thought an update on the topic was important for our readers. Are you excited about this recent development in the food industry? Leave your comments below.

Yesterday our email newsletter talked about the separation of chair and CEO. While some companies have one person filling two roles, shareholders and advocacy groups have pointed to a lack of oversight when the roles are held by one individual.

Essentially, the board and its chairman exist to provide periodic oversight to management. One of the largest responsibilities of the chairman and the board is to make sure that the right leadership is in place. And that “leadership” is the CEO.

In this sense, being “Chairman and CEO” is sort of like being your own boss, but in a large company with many shareholders. However, not everyone agrees on this.

Just a few days ago, shareholders at AT&T cast their vote on whether or not the company should separate the roles of chairman and CEO. Ultimately, the suggested proposal was voted down by 56% of AT&T shareholders, but this narrow majority suggests that many shareholders are unhappy with the current leadership. According to Blooomberg, “Backers of the measure for an independent chairman sought to increase the board’s ability to rein in CEO Randall Stephenson.” However, “AT&T’s board recommended voting against the proposal, saying that the company had a lead independent director and that the CEO-chairman link helped bridge the gap between the board and management.”

What are your thoughts on separating the chair and CEO?

No, we’re not talking about AC/DC, but we’re anticipating something almost as big as the band’s best-selling album: Bank of America’s (BAC) annual shareholder meeting tomorrow.

The meeting will take place at 10:00 AM EST in Charlotte, NC at the company’s headquarters. However, shareholders may not be the only guests in attendance. According to reports, up to 1,000 activist protestors are expected to be outside Wednesday’s meeting, advocating for a list of changes including, a halt to foreclosures, forgiveness of student loan debt, an end to financing coal projects, no more political spending and curbing seven-figure compensation packages.

But what about shareholders? The Charlotte Observer points out that, “Bank of America improved over the year in terms of shrinking its balance sheet, increasing capital levels and reducing its risk. But it still earned just 1 cent per shareholder for its investors, and its stock was the worst performer in the Dow Jones industrial average, losing 58 percent.”

Here’s what shareholders will vote on at tomorrow’s meeting, in addition to director and compensation votes:

• Disclosure of government employment
• Disclosure of grassroots and other lobbying
• Executive stock retention
• Mortgage servicing operations
• Prohibition on political spending

Will you be at the meeting tomorrow? Report back and tell us about your experience.

Earlier this week, Time published “Study: Big Corporate Donors are Bad Investments.” You might be able to guess what the piece talks about. But in the heat of proxy season and a political election year, this might just be the ammo that shareholder activists needed to sway proxy votes in favor of corporate political spending disclosure.

Should you avoid investing in companies that make big political contributions? According to Time, “The more they give, it seems, the worse their share prices perform.” The article references a new study published in the April issue of Business and Politics that suggests “for every $10,000 in direct political donations a company makes, its share price underperforms by 0.074% annually.” The average cost to shareholders: “$1.33 million in market value a year for every 10 grand donated.”

Mo’ money, mo’ problems?

In addition to costing shareholders money, the researchers also point out that “a higher rate of political donation is associated with generally ‘worse corporate governance’ in the classic definition of the word. In other words, companies that throw a lot of money at politics are more likely to have giant boards, CEOs who double as chairman, below-average institutional ownership and above average CEO pay.”

So what can you do? 3M, Bank of America and CVS Caremark all have shareholder resolutions concerning political donations on their proxy ballots. If you’re a shareholder, act fast—voting for all three of these companies ends next week.

• 3M: Shareholder proposals to prohibit political spending from the corporate treasury funds and lobbying disclosure
• Bank of America: Shareholder proposals to prohibit political spending and lobbying disclosure
• CVS Caremark: Shareholder proposal requesting disclosure of political contributions and expenditures

We are excited to welcome our newest Moxy Vote advocate, Corporate Accountability International, a membership organization focused on initiatives that protect human rights, public health and the environment from potentially harmful corporate behavior.

Value [the] Meal is one of Corporate Accountability International’s most recent campaigns, aimed at showing consumers the dangers of targeting children with fast food advertising. In particular, they are concerned with McDonald’s marketing and ability to influence children’s early eating habits, leading to health complications both in their youth and once they reach adulthood.

According to the group’s literature, “As McDonald’s has piloted the ascent of the junk food industry, conditions related to diet have become the leading preventable cause of death in the U.S. In the last 50 years, no corporation has pushed more unhealthy food—food high in fat, salt and sugar—on the public.” To put it in dollars and cents, “the direct and indirect costs of diet-related diseases are costing well over $120 billion each year in the U.S. alone.”

The organization cites that nearly one-third of the children in America today are overweight or obese, and The Centers for Disease Control predicts that one out of every three children born in the year 2000 will develop type 2 diabetes in his or her lifetime. The cause? Corporate Accountability International points to a diet of unhealthy foods, particularly fast foods.

So what can you do? If you’re a McDonald’s shareholder, take a look at the ballot resolution asking the company to produce a nutrition report. Specifically, shareholders want the report to assess “the company’s policy responses to growing evidence of linkages between fast food and childhood obesity, diet-related diseases and other impacts on children’s health.”

Are you in? Tell us what you think below.

Our Newsletter this morning covers the controversial topic of hydraulic fracturing (fracking).

Hydraulic fracking is a process used to extract natural gas out of layers of underground rock. Energy companies pump millions of gallons of water and chemicals at an extremely high pressure into wells, causing natural gas to be released. This has the potential to damage the surrounding environment.

The 2012 proxy season marks the third consecutive year that shareholders have pressured energy companies about their hydraulic fracking procedures.  In 2010, fracking resolutions received an average of 30% support from shareholders and in 2011, support increased to an average of 40%. The trend is up, so we’ll see what we get this year.

Two fracking resolutions are up for vote at ExxonMobil and Chevron.  Own either of these stocks?  Vote your shares on Moxy Vote before May 29.

We’re Boston-bound for the 2012 Ceres Conference: Igniting Innovation, Scaling Sustainability. The conference promises a “dynamic and interactive program that will examine some of the world’s most pressing sustainability challenges, create a forum for sharing best practices and present groundbreaking solutions that will drive us toward a more sustainable economy.” And we can’t wait!

Interested in learning more? Get the details here and follow Ceres on Twitter for conference updates @ceresnews. Have a shout out? Use #ceres12 in your tweets.

Earlier this week, Citigroup shareholders voted down management’s recommended compensation packages for its top five executives. While you may recall that “say on pay” votes are now mandated on all public company proxy ballots, Citigroup’s failed vote marks a sign of shareholder discontent, particularly in the aftermath of Occupy Wall Street.

According to The New York Times, “The shareholder vote, which comes amid a rising national debate over income inequality, suggests that anger over pay for chief executives has spread from Occupy Wall Street to wealthy institutional investors like pension fund and mutual fund managers.” The article cites The Florida State Board of Administration and CalPERS as two major pension funds who voted against the pay plan.

Although failed say on pay votes have been rare, the impact of the Dodd-Frank mandated votes is being felt in boardrooms across the country. Companies have spent countless hours discussing their pay practices with their shareholders in hopes of avoiding high profile rebuttals of their compensation packages. Shareholders’ voices are being heard and these discussions have led to better pay practices at many companies.

According to the company, 55% of their shareholders cast a disapproving “no” vote for management’s proposed compensation packages. This is in line with the voters on Moxy Vote (52%). We won’t guarantee that this high profile loss for Citigroup will force them to change their practices, but it sure turns up the heat and gets the conversation going.

The following big banks currently have their proxy ballots live for voting. With the recent publicity surrounding Citigroup’s vote, their pay packages may be under fire as well. Have they done enough to quell shareholder uproar?

• Goldman Sachs
• Bank of America
• Morgan Stanley
• Wells Fargo
• JPMorgan Chase

Shareholder? Get voting! Or, if you already cast your vote, share your thoughts below on the proposed pay plans.

We just love proxy season.  I mean it’s the hap-happiest season of all!

Many of you probably received our Newsletter a few weeks ago explaining the who, what and when of proxy season. With it being our season and all, we felt it would be great to celebrate two recent articles that mentioned Moxy Vote and our crew.

First up is an article from The Street, that focuses on proxy voting today and how digital media is shaping shareholder engagement.

Secondly, Mark Schlegel, VP of Business Development at Moxy Vote, recently participated in a podcast with Broc Romanek from TheCorporateCounsel.net and Doug Chia, the Assistant General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at Johnson & Johnson.  The podcast covers the basics about Moxy Vote as well as our new relationship with Johnson & Johnson.  To take a listen click here.