Voting Support for NYC Pension Proxy Proposals Continues to Wane

Support for proxy proposals submitted by New York City’s five pension funds declined in 2024, with only 21% of shareholders siding with the retirement system when voting, down from 27% in 2023 and 35% in 2022, according to its annual proxy report. The six-percentage-point drop dragged the pension funds below the market-wide batting average of 21.8%.

The Office of the New York City Comptroller, which manages the city’s pension funds, submitted 30 shareholder proposals during the year, half of which it settled following engagement and dialogue with the portfolio companies. One proposal was omitted. In addition to the proposals, the comptroller’s office said it voted in 16,804 shareholder meetings in 73 markets worldwide, including 3,056 annual and special meetings for U.S. companies. The 15 settlements were the same number as last year.

Among the proposals that went to a vote, the pension funds received the highest support for a proposal submitted to Netflix regarding responsible artificial intelligence practices, with 43.3% in favor, followed by 40.6% backing for a proposal about board diversity at renewable energy firm NextEra. However, proposals related to AI reporting and principles also received the weakest support. Just 2.4% of Paramount Global shareholders supported an AI-related proposal, while 9.7% of shareholders supported a similar proposal at Amazon.

Despite waning support, the report touted its proxy victories during the past year, claiming wins with proposals regarding workers’ rights, climate action and board diversity. These included agreements struck with telecommunications companies SBA Communications, American Tower and Crown Castle concerning disclosures on worker safety practices at their tower sites, with a focus on contractors and subcontractors.

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The proxy report also stated that the pension funds made “important progress” in the banking sector, as their clean energy supply financing proposals resulted in commitments by Citigroup, JPMorgan and the Royal Bank of Canada to annually disclose the ratio of their clean energy financing to their fossil fuel financing.

Also cited in the report were shareholder proposals at Dick’s Sporting Goods, Dollar Tree, Grocery Outlet and H&R Block, which the comptroller’s office said resulted in commitments to disclose data from EEO-1s, or employer information reports, that require certain employers and federal contractors to submit workforce demographic data.

“This year, our commitment to these principles remained unwavering in the face of increasing politicized attacks on responsible investing,” New York City Comptroller Brad Lander wrote in a forward to the report. “We remain focused on our fiduciary duty to safeguard the retirement savings of New York City’s current and retired municipal employees and believe this is best achieved by also attending to environmental, social, and governance risks, and to diversity, equity, and inclusion in our portfolio.”