Waste Management, Inc. | Civil Rights Audit at Waste Management, Inc.

Status
Withdrawn
AGM date
Proposal number
4
Resolution details
Company ticker
WM
Lead filer
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT)
Resolution ask
Conduct due diligence, audit or risk/impact assessment
ESG theme
  • Social
ESG sub-theme
  • Diversity, equity & inclusion (DEI)
Type of vote
Shareholder proposal
Filer type
Shareholder
Company sector
Industrials
Company HQ country
United States
Resolved clause
that shareholders of Waste Management, Inc. (Waste Management), urge the Board of Directors
to oversee a third-party audit analyzing the adverse impact of Waste Management’s policies and practices
on the civil rights of company stakeholders, above and beyond legal and regulatory matters, and to provide
recommendations for improving the company’s civil rights impact. Input from civil rights organizations, employees,
customers, and other stakeholders should be considered in determining the specific matters to be analyzed. A
report on the audit, prepared at reasonable cost and omitting confidential or proprietary information, should be
publicly disclosed on Waste Management’s website.
Supporting statement
Recently, the racial justice movement together with the disproportionate impacts of the COVID- 19 pandemic have
focused the public’s and policy makers’ attention on civil rights and gender and racial equity issues. In response
to the racial justice protests in June 2020, Waste Management’s CEO stated that Waste Management’s family
stand united against racism. Inclusion, equity, and diversity (IE&D) is also a fundamental value and part of the
company’s code of conduct.
While the company states IE&D is a fundamental value, its policies and practices fail to reflect this statement.
Waste Management’s workforce is 22% Hispanic, 19% Black, and 18% women according to its latest diversity
report (2020 data). Yet only 11% of executives are considered ethnically diverse. Further, based on 2019 data (the
latest year for which Waste Management broke out the category), nearly half of the jobs held by women are in
administrative support, while 79% of executive and management level positions are held by men. Though the
company has a goal of increasing representation of women overall and minorities in all segments of the business
by 2025, it is unclear how Waste Management is evaluating the effectiveness of these programs given there does
not appear to be concrete metrics attached.
Lending urgency to an audit is the recent suggestion by company management that immigrants are good
candidates for alleviating the industry’s perceived driver shortage.1
Targeting immigrants to fill high-paying,
stable jobs could help ameliorate inequalities. However, immigrants, especially those of color, are among the
most vulnerable and easily exploitable populations. A PBS NewsHour report noted, Immigrants perform some of
America’s lowest-paying, arduous jobs, and are among those most victimized by employers failing to pay them
fairly.2
The civil rights impact of Waste Management’s facilities and services also warrant further evaluation. The
company disclosed that the majority of people living within one kilometer of its facilities are non-white. While
the company is providing greater transparency on its environmental justice footprint, it does not appear to have
objectively evaluated how this data could be used to address the disproportionate impact of its facilities on the
public health and economic equality of communities of color.
We urge shareholders to vote FOR this proposal.

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