New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer is calling on 24 S&P 100 companies to publicly disclose the composition of their workforces by race, ethnicity and gender, said a news release issued Thursday by the comptroller's office.
Mr. Stringer originally sent a letter to the CEOs of 67 S&P 100 companies in July urging them to commit to diversity and racial equality and back that up with action that includes sharing annual Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reports.
Mr. Stringer sent the initial letter on behalf the New York City Employees' Retirement System, Teachers Retirement System of the City of New York and New York City Board of Education Retirement System, which have a collective $150 billion in assets. Mr. Stringer serves as investment adviser, custodian and trustee of the pension funds.
As a result of the initial letter, 40 companies announced that they would disclose their EEOC reports.
Twenty-four companies, including Home Depot, McDonald's and Walmart, did not respond. So Mr. Stringer's office sent shareholder proposals to the 24 companies requesting that they publicly disclose the makeup of their employee rosters. The proposals will be voted on at the firms' 2021 annual shareholder meetings.
"Racism must be fought with concrete action — not corporate slogans," said Mr. Stringer in the release. "We launched this campaign back in July because we know how important it is for investors to hold America's largest corporations accountable for their public commitments to diversity and racial justice."
Mr. Stringer added: "Publicly disclosing the demographics of employees by race, gender, and ethnicity — including and most notably those in leadership and senior management positions — will provide critical information for shareowners to better understand workforce practices, identify areas for improvement, and benchmark diversity performance."
The comptroller expects to submit proposals to more companies in the next few months.
