At Apple’s annual shareholder assembly, buyers within the firm had extra to think about than simply how a lot cash CEO Tim Cook and different executives stand to make — final yr, the compensation for operating a $2 trillion firm added as much as practically $99 million for Cook. Instead, sure shareholder proposals introduced up points with social and cultural influence, like addressing pressured labor, pay fairness, and worker NDAs. On Friday, for the primary time in years, two proposals really handed (through CNET).

Bloomberg experiences shareholders (unsurprisingly) opted to re-elect the identical board of administrators and authorized the chief pay package deal outlined within the 2022 proxy assertion. They additionally adopted Apple’s advice in voting on eight of the ten shareholder proposals introduced, as famous in an SEC 8-Ok submitting (pdf).

One of the 2 measures handed was proposal quantity 10, which targeted on non-disclosure agreements, with assist from Nia Impact Capital, the Transparency in Employment Agreements (TEA) coalition, and Silenced No More co-sponsor Ifeoma Ozoma. It pushed Apple to arrange a report on potential dangers from its use of concealment clauses (non-disclosure agreements) within the context of harassment, discrimination, and different illegal acts.

Shareholders of Apple Inc. (“Apple”) ask that the Board of Directors put together a public report assessing the potential dangers to the corporate related to its use of concealment clauses within the context of harassment, discrimination and different illegal acts. The report needs to be ready at cheap value and omit proprietary and private data

In response, Apple stated it has added language to all separation agreements for US staff, explicitly noting that non-disclosure clauses don’t forestall them from discussing “harassment or discrimination.” However, not all Apple’s staff are within the US or California, the place the Silenced No More Act is now the regulation. The shareholders need the corporate so as to add that language to its employment settlement the place they argue it gives extra authorized safety than merely sitting within the Business Conduct Policy.

Preliminary voting introduced in the course of the name confirmed shareholders barely favored approving the measure, with 49.3 p.c of votes in assist vs. 49.24 p.c towards it, however as Marketwatch notes, the variety of abstentions prevented it from assembly the brink of fifty p.c or extra in favor, at first. However, as reported by Apple’s 8-Ok submitting with the SEC, votes that got here in on Friday pushed the in-favor crowd above fifty p.c and bought it authorized.

Nia Impact Capital founder and CEO Dr. Kristin Hull stated in a press release concerning the victory that “NDAs make sense when we need to protect intellectual property or competitively sensitive information. They do not, however, make sense for cases of harassment or discrimination as they mask issues from other employees and investors.”

The different one the place shareholders broke with the corporate’s advice is proposal quantity 9, titled Civil Rights Audit. It requested for the Board of Directors to provoke an unbiased audit measuring the “impact of Apple’s policies and practices on the civil rights of company stakeholders,” with outcomes and suggestions posted publicly on Apple’s web site.

RESOLVED that shareholders of Apple Inc. (“Apple”) urge the Board of Directors to supervise a third-party audit analyzing the opposed influence of Apple’s insurance policies and practices on the civil rights of firm stakeholders, above and past authorized and regulatory issues, and to offer suggestions for bettering the corporate’s civil rights influence. Input from civil rights organizations, staff, and clients needs to be thought-about in figuring out the precise issues to be analyzed. A report on the audit, ready at cheap value and omitting confidential or proprietary data, needs to be publicly disclosed on Apple’s web site.

Apple opposed the measure, saying it already fulfilled the proposal’s aims via commitments to inclusion and variety, threat assessments, clear public reporting, and different measures. Shareholders apparently weren’t satisfied — maybe they’ve learn what staff have needed to say about its firm tradition or are unsettled by current leaks — and handed the measure with 5,125,278,012 voting for it, vs. 4,445,469,491 voting towards.

The SOC Investment Group was one among three events that submitted the measure, saying “Apple’s Reputation as an Inclusive and Equitable Changemaker is at Risk,” and mentioning that different corporations like Starbucks, Airbnb, and Facebook had performed related audits. In a tweet Friday, the group stated, “A properly conducted Civil Rights Audit will help the company effectuate the reputation that Apple has built of being an inclusive and equitable company.”

Even as soon as authorized, the proposals are non-binding, however in a press release to CNBC, SOC Investment Group government director Dieter Waizenegger stated shareholders sometimes maintain the corporate’s board to account when one thing passes. In a dialog with The Verge, Dr. Hull stated the identical, hoping that this end result would push Apple to do the work obligatory to keep up an excellent fame and push again towards potential abuses within the office.