What you may have unwittingly signed up for when you bought into that mutual fund, either individually or from with a company sponsored plan is the proxy. You invest and the manager votes (on the underlying shares of the companies in the fund) on your behalf. They may vote in favor of the current corporate pay rates. They may agree with boards that chose profits over environmental safety even lobbying to dismantle the very agency that you as a taxpayer fund to protect you. And they may vote to keep the current policies in place that are focused less on job creation and more on the short-term bottom line.