Investing in justice: ABHMS uses financial voice to advocate for workers’ rights at Tyson Foods
VALLEY FORGE, PA (04/02/2025)—As a faith-based organization, American Baptist Home Mission Societies (ABHMS) holds a bold conviction: sound financial stewardship is a powerful form of ministry. For more than half a century, ABHMS has prudently championed socially responsible investing (SRI) as both a means of funding its missional programming and a vehicle for prophetic witness.
“For us, investing is not just a financial activity,” says Gina Haas, ABHMS’ director of investments. “It’s a reflection of our values. We believe it’s possible—and necessary—to do well financially while doing good in the world.”
That belief is embedded in ABHMS’ Common Investment Fund (CIF). Established in 1962 and later expanded to include American Baptist churches and related institutions, the CIF is actively managed using a faith-informed strategy that dictates a full range of socially responsible investing (SRI) activities. These include screening from its asset portfolio companies involved in harmful industries—tobacco, pornography, gambling, militarism, and liquor, for example—and prioritizing shareholder engagement to modify corporate behavior. Strategies here include voting proxies, initiating dialogues with senior management, and filing shareholder resolutions.
ABHMS is also a founding member of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), a pioneering coalition of shareholder advocates who view investment management as a catalyst for social change. Established in 1971, ICCR has expanded to 300 member organizations that collaborate to promote corporate accountability on issues like workplace safety, environmental protection, and consumer fairness.
Through ICCR and a partnership with Investor Advocates for Social Justice (IASJ), a nonprofit that represents ABHMS in shareholder engagements, ABHMS has become a persistent and prophetic voice in an array of industries—not least of which is food processing, where powerhouse Tyson Foods has come under a watchful eye.
Reckoning with a Colossus
Arkansas-based Tyson Foods is vast. As the largest meat processor in the United States, the company generates more than $50 billion in revenue annually. With a workforce of 140,000, it produces approximately 20% of the beef, pork, and chicken consumed nationwide.
Image courtesy of Investor Advocates for Social Justice.
Such scale necessarily gives rise to significant responsibilities toward a host of constituencies. However, these responsibilities can spawn growing concerns if unmet. Tyson has faced repeated scrutiny for labor practices in its plants and along its supply chains, particularly concerning worker safety, racial equity, and human rights violations. Consequently, ABHMS, working closely with IASJ, has engaged the meatpacking giant on multiple fronts, including filing proposals calling for changes that reflect care for the company’s most vulnerable workers.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, federal watchdogs cited Tyson in congressional reports for gravely endangering workers through inadequate protections. This prompted ABHMS to file a shareholder proposal in 2020 requesting the company generate a human rights due diligence report. A shareholder vote revealed just 18.4% support in the official count, and Tyson dismissed the request. However, independent shareholders strongly favored the proposal by a striking 78.7%.
A year later, ABHMS called on Tyson to conduct an independent racial equity audit. Initially, Company leadership agreed, receiving public praise for its commitment. To date, however, neither findings nor a finished report have surfaced.
More recently, in 2024, ABHMS led independent shareholder efforts to hold the company accountable for illegal child labor after federal investigators discovered minors had been cleaning Tyson slaughterhouses. Because of the gravity of the issue, the shareholder proposal sought an independent audit of Tyson’s labor practices. However, once shareholder votes were tallied, the official count showed just 12.1% support for the measure. In stark contrast, 54.5% of independent shareholders believed the audit should proceed.
“The results of shareholder voting are not just statistics—they affect real lives,” said Aaron Acosta, a program director at IASJ who has been elbows-deep in these ABHMS shareholder advocacy efforts. “Many of Tyson’s workers are immigrants, people of color, and economically vulnerable, and they deserve protection, dignity, and respect.”
A Call for Transparency
Faced with Tyson’s intransigence, ABHMS escalated its efforts to achieve corporate accountability with a simple but powerful request in 2025: a call for transparency. For this year’s annual Tyson shareholder meeting, ABHMS filed a resolution urging the company to officially disclose shareholder voting results by class of shares—a move aimed at spotlighting the significant disconnect between independent shareholders and Tyson’s entrenched leadership.
At the heart of the issue is the corporation’s dual-class stock structure, which grants disproportionate voting power to “insider” shareholders—primarily the Tyson family—who control nearly all Class B shares. These shares carry ten votes each. In contrast, Class A shares—those held by the general public—carry just one vote. Consequently, insiders control about 72% of all shareholder voting power, effectively allowing them to override proposals even when a majority of independent shareholders support them.
“Tyson’s shareholder structure allows it to sidestep accountability,” said Acosta. “Even when independent shareholders overwhelmingly support proposals addressing worker rights, the official vote totals appear weak because insider votes are so heavily weighted.”
The disparity in voting power was again on full display when ABHMS’ proposal came to a vote. While the official results reported just 13.1% support, an independent analysis showed that 57.7% of non-insider shareholders backed the proposal.
“This level of support from independent shareholders sends a powerful signal,” said Acosta. “It shows that the wider investor community believes Tyson must do more to address systemic risks, especially those affecting its workers.”
Faith-Driven Advocacy for the Long Haul
ABHMS’ role as a socially responsible investor is not about maximizing control—it is about maximizing moral clarity. Unlike large institutional investors that prioritize profit above all else, ABHMS views investing through the lens of mission. Though its financial stake in Tyson is modest, its influence comes from conviction—and the persistent use of its shareholder rights to advocate for those without a seat at the corporate table.
“Being a socially responsible investor means using our influence, however small, to push for systemic change,” said Haas. “It’s about standing with the voiceless, even inside the boardrooms of America’s largest companies.”
Acosta agrees. “ABHMS is a moral leader in this space,” he said. “Their consistency, their faith-based perspective, and their courage to speak up make a real difference. They show that shareholder advocacy isn’t just about financial leverage—it’s about ethical leadership.”
While Tyson has yet to act on the most recent shareholder proposal, the 57.7% favorable vote among independent investors gives ABHMS and its partners new momentum. They plan to continue the engagement, filing future proposals, pressing for transparency, and calling on Tyson to honor its commitments.
“We’re in this for the long haul,” said Haas. “Because justice is not a short-term goal—it’s a faithful journey.”
For more information about ABHMS’ commitment to SRI, visit our relevant web pages.
