Shareholders have voted against a resolution backed by UK schemes at National Express Group's AGM this week, with spokespeople on both sides of the issue claiming victory.

The resolution, known as 'resolution 22', was aimed at improving employment practices at a US subsidiary of the FTSE 250 company. It was supported by the Greater Manchester, Islington and Nottinghamshire pension funds, as well as unions Unite and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the largest in the UK and US respectively.

Teamsters general president James Hoffa travelled to Birmingham for the AGM with employees of Durham School Services, the US National Express subsidiary in question.

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The resolution, known as 'resolution 22', was aimed at improving employment practices at a US subsidiary of the FTSE 250 company. It was supported by Greater Manchester Pension Fund, Islington Pension Fund and Nottinghamshire Pension Fund, as well as unions Unite and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the largest in the UK and US respectively.

Teamsters general president James Hoffa travelled to Birmingham for the AGM with employees of Durham School Services, the US National Express subsidiary in question. 

A spokesperson for National Express welcomed the result with the following statement:

“Over 87 per cent of shareholders voted to oppose the special resolution. We welcome this significant shareholder support and believe National Express has the right policies in place to protect the safety and welfare of our employees.”

A spokesperson for Unite similarly welcomed the result, pointing out that the resolution was "the best-supported resolution filed with a UK company on employment issues in the last 10 years".

It is presumably a good sign for the future of shareholder activism, which had been seeing something of a lull following the so-called 'shareholder spring' in 2012, but the size of the opposition demonstrates there is a way to go yet. 

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