International investor coalition supports workers' rights proposal at Amazon

Vancouver, Canada (ots) - Shareholders of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) are
urging the company to assess whether it has lived up to its own commitments to
respect workers' rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining.

Amazon's upcoming annual general meeting (AGM) on May 22 comes amid ongoing
unionization efforts at the company, including recent applications in the U.S.,
U.K., and Canada, and media reports alleging intimidation, retaliation and
surveillance.

A group of more than 20 global investors led by SHARE, the Shareholder
Association for Research and Education, has filed a shareholder proposal urging
Amazon's Board of Directors to assess how the company's actions align with its
policies to respect international human rights law, including the Core
Conventions of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the ILO
Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.

Sarah Couturier-Tanoh , Director of Shareholder Advocacy at SHARE and a leading
authority on corporate governance, decent work and human rights, says that
effective and transparent due diligence is needed to reassure shareholders when
repeated allegations of misconduct arise.

"Beyond the ethical imperative to respect human rights, any failure to align
workforce practices with internationally recognized human rights norms
represents a threat to shareholder long-term value," said Couturier-Tanoh.
"That's why in the past couple of years we have seen global investors taking
stances in favor of better labor relations in an effort to mitigate those risks
in their investment portfolio. In the past six months, several companies
answered the call, including Starbucks and Apple. We are still waiting for
Amazon to follow suit and, frankly, to do even better."

The list of co-filers on the Amazon proposal includes Denmark-based
AkademikerPension and the Council of Ethics of the National Swedish Pension
Funds , as well as Nordea Asset Management .

Anders Schelde, CIO of AkademikerPension , said the firm "expect[s] Amazon to
respect fundamental labour rights - both in order to protect the workers
employed by the company, but also to protect the company itself. Amazon has so
far shown unwillingness to do so. "Unfortunately, this approach indicates a lack
of consideration of the risks related to labour rights violations - risks that
leave the company vulnerable to operational disruptions, litigation, and
consumer backlash," Schelde added. "Neither Amazon nor us, as investors, will
benefit from this."

Jenny Gustafsson, Executive Director of the Council of Ethics , said the Council
has been engaging with Amazon on labour rights for years. "Co-filing this
proposal is a way for the AP Funds to reinforce that dialogue and to further
encourage Amazon to improve its practices and the implementation of its policy
commitments," said Gustafsson.

Eric Pedersen, Head of Responsible Investment at Nordea Asset Management , said
"poor corporate management of human and labour rights conflicts with the
long-term interest of a company and its shareholders, and in our view represents
a substantial risk to the company's business and thus shareholder value."

Other co-filers on the proposal include Denmark-based Sampension , Sweden-based
Alecta and Öhman Fonder ; Norway-based Storebrand Asset Management and KLP
Kapitalforvaltning AS ; and the U.S.-based SOC Investment Group .

About SHARE

SHARE is an award-winning non-profit organization dedicated to mobilizing
investor leadership for a sustainable, inclusive and productive economy. We do
this by supporting our investor networks and amplifying their voices to improve
corporate sustainability practices and implement better rules and regulations
that govern capital markets. For more information on SHARE, visit
http://www.share.ca/

Media contact

cometis AG
Thorben Burbach
T.: +49 (0)611 - 205855-23
Email: mailto:[e-mail]
http://www.cometis.de

Additional content: http://presseportal.de/pm/174782/5779085
OTS: SHARE