Snippet: US funds back Living Wage resolution at Next Plc this week

Early disclosures show CalPERS and CalSTRS both voted FOR, following Church of England public declaration of support

Next’s AGM takes place this Thursday 15th May with the ShareAction co-ordinated resolution on the Living Wage on the ballot.

The Church of England Pension Board has already publicly disclosed its support for the resolution:

“Growing income inequality presents a systemic risk to our portfolio and the communities our members are living in and will retire into," said Clare Richards – Director, Social, Responsible Investment at the Church of England Pensions Board. “Greater disclosure by Next of its pay practices would demonstrate how the company seeks to balance the needs of their stakeholders and lowest paid workers. It would provide a basis to assess the likely costs of a more proactive approach to attracting and retaining workers, and whether the negative impacts of low pay are sufficiently factored into existing wage calculations.”

Having had a quick poke around over the weekend, I can see that the big Californian public sector funds CalPERS and CalSTRS have also both voted FOR the resolution.

As a reference point, both these funds opposed a similar resolution, also co-ordinated by ShareAction, at Sainsbury’s in 2022.