A quick plug for SHARE, the excellent labour-aligned shareholder activist body in Canada. It now has a section here on its website dedicated to the Burma issue, which includes a helpful feed of investor news.
This is an issue that unions globally can get behind as investors. It strikes me that it is also a case where it might be legitimate to push both engagement AND screening. Mainstream funds are still going to be wary of disinvestment, but there is no reason why they shouldn't be quizzing their fund managers on the risks to investee companies of doing business with the regime.
On the other hand, given the clear policy position on this issue, it would seem pretty legitimate for TU-aligned funds to ditch any holdings in target companies, particularly if there is an opportunity to generate some publicity for the issue by doing so.
I'm interested in anyone else's view on the engagement vs screening argument with specific reference to Burma...
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