Funds to come clean on voting

PENSION fund managers are increasingly happy to reveal how they are using workers‘ votes to influence companies, a new survey indicates.

Twenty out of 50 managers provided information on voting at company annual general meetings. Last year, only 12 investors handed over the information to the TUC pension fund manager survey.

The union organisation launched the exercise in an attempt to make voting more public, allowing workers to see how their money managers are acting in their name.

The latest research confirms that workers are increasingly having a say in the way large UK companies are run, especially with the rising controversy over corporate governance. Accusations of fat-cat salaries and a lack of accountability in British boardrooms have sparked a backlash among institutional and small investors.

The study reveals that of the 25 investors who provided voting data on the executive pay policy of drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline, three voted for, four abstained and 18 voted against. Corporate history was made last year when 51% of shareholders voted against the remuneration policy in protest at the £22m pay-off the company's chief executive, Jean-Pierre Garnier, would receive if fired.

Speaking at today's 'Transforming Trusteeship' conference, Brendan Barber, TUC General Secretary, said: 'The veil of secrecy around how the pension investments of millions of employees are used is slowly being lifted. More and more fund managers are taking the lead and publishing their voting records and policies because they see openness as an opportunity, not a threat.

'Pension fund trustees understand that well-governed companies that engage with investors will perform better in the long term. And they are eager to play more of a part in this process by building their relationships with fund managers. I am sure the survey will continue to be a useful tool for trustees.'