Italian pension fund Cometa has revealed how it voted at Apple’s shareholders’ meeting, including its opposition to Apple CEO, Tim Cook’s, reappointment.

In total, Cometa voted on nine themes on the agenda with the aim of defending workers’ rights, pay equity and transparency in corporate governance based on the founding principles of the National Collective Bargaining Agreement for Metalworkers.

Alongside its opposition of Cook’s reappointment, it also opposed the re-election of Art Levinson as chairman, both over concerns about “full trade union freedom and respect for human rights along Apple’s supply chain”.

It noted that it had observed “no evidence” in public documents of the company’s assurances that it was improving its confidentiality agreements on its employees.

Cometa also opposed Cook’s remuneration outlined in the meeting and the re-election of non-independent directors.

On the other hand, the pension fund voted in favour of Arjuna Capital’s proposal on pay equity and the National Legal and Policy Center’s proposal on human rights.

It also voted in favour of the Nia Impact Capital’s proposal to adopt a policy that favours confrontation between non-executive directors and shareholders if proposals submitted by the latter receive more votes in favour than against, and James McRitchie’s proposal to amend Apple’s Articles of Association to increase the number of directors proposed by shareholders.

Cometa has also recently participated in the shareholders’ meeting of six other companies (Siemens AG, Compass Group PLC and Deere & CO, Novozymes A/S, Novartis AG and Johnson Controls), and further votes are expected in the coming days, resulting in a total of 200 listed companies being voted on this year.

“Cometa is the first Italian pension fund to become active in such a structured manner with respect to voting policies,” said Cometa chair, Riccardo Realfonzo.

“Through this activity, the fund wants to make its voice heard in all the shareholders' meetings of the companies in which it invests and which have on the agenda fundamental issues related to the achievements and values shared by the social partners of the metalworking industry and which qualify the National Collective Bargaining Agreement for Metalworkers.

“Apple is one of the best known companies globally, an extraordinary engine of technological development.

“We hope that the motivations behind our voting decisions can help push the company towards a more virtuous path also in terms of workers' rights, environmental sustainability and transparency in its governance model.”

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