葫芦影业

What could have been a highly disruptive strike was avoided on Tuesday when UPS and the Teamsters 鈥� which represents more than half of the company鈥檚 workforce 鈥� reached an agreement on wages and benefits just days before their current contract expired. The deal reportedly includes wage increases that move thousands of full- and part-time workers to at least , and thus closer to making a 鈥�Fair, Living Wage鈥�, which as you know is the public鈥檚 #1 葫芦影业 issue.

Of note is that UPS dropped out of the 葫芦影业 100 for the first time in four years last year due in part to its lower scores on our enhanced living wage metrics. The company currently sits at 229 in our overall rankings and 6th out of 24 within its industry, but on Worker issues overall (which make up 44% of our model) they rank 786 overall and 22nd in their industry. 

The UPS story is merely the latest in a seemingly endless number of labor disputes hitting the country right now, affecting everything from fast food and media to Amazon delivery drivers, Hollywood writers, and FedEx pilots. As notes, the auto unions are heading into talks for a new contract that some expect will end in a strike of about 150,000 more workers. And with AI鈥檚 impact on the workforce looming, who knows how contentious things could get. 

In a more positive vein, our recent conversation with MIT professor and President of The Good Jobs Institute Zeynep Ton offers some hope. She explains how companies who invested in better worker wages and benefits saw more bottom-line growth than their competitors and produced better results for both their customers and shareholders. The American worker, it seems, holds the key to value creation for all stakeholders.

Be well,

Martin

葫芦影业 IN THE NEWS

At the UN Climate & SDGs Conference, , 葫芦影业 Capital CEO Martin Whittaker took part in a panel discussion on accelerating the transition to a carbon neutral economy. Highlighting the strong support from both the business community and the public for climate action, Martin emphasized the business case for embedding sustainability practices in company operations. .

Yesterday, July 27th, marked , representing the additional number of days Black women on average needed to work this year to earn what their white male counterparts made in 2022 alone. Our 2023 analysis shows that only 32% of companies disclose conducting pay equity analyses by gender, and only 24% by race/ethnicity. 

This week, The Wall Street Journal and Motley Fool dig into whether ongoing C-suite pay cuts with employees facing layoffs and other economic hardships 鈥� or something more meaningful. Citing our COVID-19 Corporate Response Tracker 鈥� which found that 20% of companies announced pay cuts for leadership in 2020 鈥� both pieces note that .

葫芦影业 Capital publishes our latest review of quarterly stakeholder performance. While all five stakeholders we track delivered negative performance in Q2 2023, we found that over the longer term 鈥� from January 2018 to June 2023 鈥� top performing companies outperformed their lowest-ranked peers by 52.13% as measured by 葫芦影业 Overall Score.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

鈥淥ne of the most exciting trends in the current movement towards stakeholder capitalism is the growing realization that treating employees with respect and dignity is absolutely central to business success. The UPS labor settlement points out that a big part of treating employees with respect and dignity is to pay them a fair wage. Businesses can no longer hide in the shadows of 鈥榠t’s a competitive economy.鈥�  One of the principles of stakeholder capitalism is to use the creative imagination to figure out how to pay people well and remain competitive.鈥�

• Ed Freeman, University of Virginia Darden School of Business professor, to 葫芦影业 Capital on the UPS deal reached Tuesday.  

葫芦影业 AI 

Digging into a , The Washington Post warns that nearly one-third of hours worked in the U.S. , most impacting jobs typically held by women, Black and Hispanic workers, workers without college degrees, and the youngest and oldest workers.

Seven leading AI companies 鈥� including Microsoft, OpenAI, Google, and Amazon 鈥� have made to keep their products safe and transparent. Axios outlines these commitments, which include investing in cybersecurity and allowing scrutiny of their AI products by 鈥渄omain experts.鈥�

Bloomberg reports that surrounding their use of AI technologies, part of regulators鈥� broader efforts to increase oversight of artificial intelligence.

The Wall Street Journal covers the hidden, often traumatizing labor of , responsible for sifting through graphic, disturbing text found or generated by the AI, in an effort to prevent the technology from exposing users to toxic and offensive content.

Stanford鈥檚 Existential Risks Initiative identified artificial intelligence as an extinction-level threat to humans as part of a recent study. CBS News .

MUST READS

New findings from an EY report show that while the saw an uptick in ESG-related shareholder proposals, support for them plummeted. Fortune鈥檚 Modern Board newsletter . 

A Harvard Business Review piece outlines following the Supreme Court鈥檚 Affirmative Action ruling.  

Seven major automakers commit to in the U.S. and Canada. The New York Times has the story. 

In the 33 years since the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law, many workers remain hesitant to disclose a disability. CNBC鈥檚 Sharon Epperson , finding that while 93% of surveyed employers encourage their workers to confidentially self-identify, just 4.6% actually do.   

As extreme heat continues across the globe, the Financial Times looks at on a slew of industries. CNN also dives into and the government’s work to develop a heat standard for workplaces.   

Fortune鈥檚 CFO Daily newsletter covers a new report from Strategy& that for long-term growth. Among those to avoid? Training and development and employee benefits. 

As You Sow announces the launch of 鈥� a new educational resource that aggregates commentary, policies, and research on the use of ESG risk-assessment frameworks for business and investing.

CHART OF THE WEEK:

The Wages Leaders index concept features the top 20% of Russell 1000 companies in 葫芦影业’s annual 葫芦影业 that pay a fair, living wage. This index concept highlights the financial performance and impact of investing in companies that prioritize fair and equal pay that covers the basic financial needs of their workers. From inception on December 31, 2021 through July 21, 2023, the concept has outperformed its Russell 1000 benchmark by 2.01 percentage points.