Abstract
When adjusted to reflect inflation, the federal minimum wage is almost 40 percent lower than it was in 1970. The Biden Administration tried and failed to legislatively raise the minimum wage, and political deadlock will continue to kill legislative change. The shareholder proposal, a nonbinding recommendation to management that shareholders can submit for a vote at a public corporation’s annual meeting, presents a path for improving the wages of many workers in the absence of federal legislation. This Note analyzes the best approach to crafting a shareholder proposal on minimum wage that will prompt an effective increase in the minimum wages paid to workers. It evaluates the barriers to success and concludes that the right team of actors can overcome the barriers to raise the minimum wages paid to workers at large corporations through shareholder proposals.
Recommended Citation
Laura Carrier, Raising the Floor from the Back Door: Shareholder Proposals as a Mechanism for Raising Minimum Wage, 80 Wash. & Lee L. Rev. 1239 (2023).Available at: https://scholarlycommons.law.wlu.edu/wlulr/vol80/iss3/9