Norway wealth fund supports Nike shareholder proposal on workers’ rights

By Helen Reid and Louise Rasmussen

COPENHAGEN/LONDON (Reuters) -Norway’s wealth fund will back a proposal demanding Nike (NYSE:NKE) consider whether binding agreements with workers would improve its ability to address human rights issues when sourcing from high-risk countries, the fund said on Thursday.

Ahead of the sportswear giant’s annual shareholders’ meeting next Tuesday, the support of the $1.7 trillion fund, Nike’s ninth-biggest shareholder, is a significant boost to the proposal that says Nike lags peers.

Adidas (OTC:ADDYY) and Puma, for instance, have signed the Pakistan Accord, a legally binding agreement between brands and trade unions.

Nike has recommended investors vote against the proposal put forward by Domini Impact Equity Fund.

The sportswear giant, struggling with sliding sales, is under pressure from investors on several fronts, with shareholders also set to vote on two proposals on its supply chain policies and one about its climate targets.

Domini was among more than 60 investors who last year wrote a joint letter to Nike urging it to pay $2.2 million in allegedly unpaid wages to more than 4,000 garment workers at two suppliers in Cambodia and Thailand.

Labour rights groups said the workers lost wages after COVID-19 factory shutdowns. Nike has denied the allegations.

Norway’s wealth fund owns 0.92% of Nike’s shares, a stake worth around $1.05 billion as of June 30, according to fund data.

“The board should account for material sustainability risks facing the company, and the broader environmental and social consequences of its operations and products,” the fund said.

The fund, which says executive pay has become excessive, especially at U.S. companies, also said it would vote against Nike executives’ compensation. It has voted against Nike executive pay every year since 2020.

However, the fund said it would not back a shareholder proposal by Tulipshare asking Nike to assess how effective its supply chain policies are at ensuring workers’ rights. Put forward for a second time, the proposal got 11.7% of votes at last year’s meeting.

CLIMATE TARGETS

The Norwegian fund said it would support a proposal demanding Nike reassess its sustainability strategy after the company missed climate targets it had set for itself.

The proposal, put forward by Trium Capital, requests Nike to publish within a year an analysis of its failure to meet its self-imposed, now discontinued targets for 2015-2020.

Trium said it was disappointed by Nike’s “track record and lack of perseverance”.

Proxy advisory firms Glass Lewis and ISS had also recommended shareholders back the proposal, with ISS saying the company missed and restated many of its targets without adequate discussion of how oversight would change in the future.