Friends Fiduciary Files Human Rights Proposal at Texas Instruments

April 20, 2023

Friends Fiduciary has filed a shareholder proposal at Texas Instruments (TI) in response to investor concerns around the discovery of company dual-use components (products that can be used for civilian and military application) in Russian weapons found in Ukraine. It appears that Russian weapons systems are dependent upon these components by TI as noted in a report published by the Royal United Services Institute. FFC’s proposal was supported by six co-filers, including other faith-based as well as for-profit socially responsible investment firms. Our filing followed several meetings with the company during which investors expressed concerns of increased legal, regulatory, financial, and reputational risk due to customer end-use of its products and their proximity to Russian war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine. The company maintains that because they are in regulatory compliance, they have no responsibility for any additional efforts to mitigate human rights risks. We believe, however, mere regulatory compliance is the minimum that a company should attain, not the limit of its efforts to mitigate human rights harms.

FFC is seeking greater human rights and know your customer due diligence to assess the heightened human rights risks in conflict affected and high risk areas. In a letter to shareholders, FFC explains our concerns and the business case for supporting this proposal at Texas Instruments.

The institutional proxy service, ISS, has recommended support for the proposal in their Socially Responsible Investing proxy voting policy. Here is their analysis.