Spotlight on BlackRock: The Role of Fundamental Labour Rights in Investment Stewardship
This report, part of the CWC Asset Manager Report Series, evaluates the strength of BlackRock’s stewardship framework, the impact of its stewardship practices on workers’ rights and its degree of alignment with the ILO Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and rights-based frameworks such as the UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights (UNGP) and the OECD Guidelines for MNEs. This report is current up to 23 September 2020.
Report highlights:
- BlackRock is the largest holder of ownership stakes of 5 percent or above in US listed firms and the top investor in Germany’s DAX
- It voted against every CWC-supported voting recommendation highlighted in the report in the first half of 2020
- It scored very poorly on the 2020 NABTU Responsible Contractor Policy Scorecard on real estate and infrastructure
- While it publicly supports the shift away from shareholder primacy, its response to recent policy consultations in the UK and Germany ran counter to trade union recommendations
- It should support remediation as an element of effective due diligence under the OECD Guidelines and create an investment portfolio focused grievance mechanism
Click here to access the comparison table between BlackRock and SSGA
