Proposal Issued at Tesla Shareholders Meeting
Here is the proposal given by Terrence Collingsworth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6T9xIeZTds&feature=youtu.be&t=3457 at 57:50.
Below is the transcript of that proposal:
Presentation by Terry Collingsworth in Support of
Human Rights Disclosure Proposal
September 22, 2020 Tesla, Inc. ASM
I am Terry Collingsworth, Executive Director of the International Rights Advocates. I am here representing the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, NY Province, to present Item 7 on Human Rights Disclosure, which calls upon Tesla to issue a report to describe (1) board oversight of human rights and (2) its human rights due diligence process, including systems to provide a meaningful remedy when adverse human rights impacts occur.
Tesla faces serious human rights issues and failure to establish a culture of respect for human rights will expose Tesla to new liability issues and significant reputational injury, all of which will have a material impact on the company and its shareholders.
The need to set a new course for human rights compliance at Tesla is glaring. Here are 5 examples of human rights violations occurring in Tesla’s operations:
• Racism, sexual harassment, and disregard for human safety and dignity harm workers at the Gigafactory 2 in Buffalo, NY every single day, and they urge you to remember their experiences in your actions;
• Tesla is experiencing serious labor relations issues at its production facilities and is actively discouraging union organizing activities;
• Workers are being exposed to COVID-19 and then are facing retaliation when they ask for greater protections;
• There are numerous worker health and safety violations as well as wage and hour issues; and
• There are serious, even deadly, human rights violations occurring in Tesla’s global supply chains.
On this last issue, my organization brought the pending suit against Tesla for using cobalt mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo by artisanal miners, many of them young children. I personally met young boys who lost limbs or were paralyzed in cobalt tunnel collapses. Tesla sources cobalt from these mines and its claim to have “zero tolerance” for child labor in its Supplier Code of Conduct is not true. Tesla is not only tolerating child labor in its cobalt supply chain, it is tolerating the death and maiming of young child miners.
This demonstrates why the company must circle back and begin a process to report on its treatment of human rights issues as requested in this proposal.
I think consumers will have Zero Tolerance for a company that is exposed as being indifferent to killing and maiming child miners.
We are hopeful that Tesla’s innovative spirit can be brought to bear on making human rights a priority at the company. For example, if Elon Musk cared about implementing a “zero tolerance” of child labor policy, instead of a useless paper policy, Tesla could employ satellites or drones at every mine it sources from to monitor child labor.
I encourage all Tesla shareholders to vote FOR Item 7 – Human Rights Disclosure. Thank you.