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Shareholders, Activists Demand TIAA-CREF Accountability On Corporate Governance And Social Responsibility Issues
Shareholders, Activists Demand TIAA-CREF Accountability On Corporate Governance And Social Responsibility Issues
Published 07-12-05
Submitted by Make TIAA-CREF Ethical Coalition
Nation's Largest Pension Fund to Face Protests surrounding its Annual Meeting, Urging Fund to Divest of Destructive Holdings, Invest in Socially Responsible Ventures
Corporate Governance Leader Challenged To Follow Its Own Policy Statement On Corporate Governance
What: Demonstration outside TIAA-CREF's corporate headquarters and raising of voices inside to urge fund to divest of Costco, Wal-Mart, Coca-Cola, Nike, Unocal, Philip Morris/Altria (and pledge no reinvestment in World Bank bonds). Instead, CREF should invest in life-promoting ventures.
When: Tuesday, July 19, 8-10 AM. (CREF meeting starts at 9 AM.)
Where: TIAA-CREF, 730 Third Avenue (between 45th and 46th), Manhattan, NYC
Why: A coalition of international human rights, environmental and corporate accountability advocacy groups will demonstrate against TIAA-CREF's investment policies. It will urge the fund to divest of shares in corporations involved in human rights violations; and public health/community/environmental degradation, and instead invest in socially responsible ventures. Make TIAA-CREF Ethical http://www.MakeTIAA-CREFethical.org
The nation's largest pension fund, TIAA-CREF, a retirement fund mainly for educators, prides itself on being responsive to shareholders and concerned about social responsibility. Their Policy Statement on Corporate Governance states that "... efforts to promote good corporate citizenship may serve to enhance a company's reputation and long term economic performance..." And their tag line is now "Financial Services for the Greater Good."
The reality is that TIAA-CREF holds shares in some of the most controversial and notoriously unethical corporations:
Nike and Wal-Mart -condemned for selling products produced by overseas sweatshop labor
Wal-Mart -has bad domestic labor practices, hurts local business, and promotes urban sprawl
Unocal - its business ventures with Burma's government help support that brutal regime
Philip Morris/Altria - responsible for Marlboro, the #1 deadly cigarette brand among youth
Costco - promotes police brutality and the destruction of cultural heritage and the environment
Coke - markets nutritionally deficient products to kids at home, tied to human rights abuses and water shortages abroad
(TIAA-CREF divested its harmful World Bank bonds and should state it will buy no more.)
TIAA-CREF failed to follow through on its promise of April '04 that it would address the concerns of the Social Choice for Social Change campaign that seeks investment in community development and other positive ventures. They talked for a year; then rejected all but one request in May, agreeing to one.
Issues of general corporate responsibility will be raised, as well:
TIAA-CREF had to remove two of its board members in November 2004 after the SEC voiced strong concerns about their lack of independence in financial transactions.
It suffered two scandals in 2005: inadvertently hiring a criminal and subsequent breech of security for participants and associated apparent deception; having its CFO investigated by the SEC and DOJ for alleged financial conspiracy (from her previous job a few years before).
In response to pressure, TIAA-CREF has made some changes in its investment policies. The coalition vows to increase that pressure until the pension fund lives up to its own self-proclaimed standards of social responsibility.
** The US Campaign for Burma • Corporate Accountability International (formerly Infact) • World Bank Bonds Boycott • Press for Change • Social Choice for Social Change • Canadian Committee To Combat Crimes Against Humanity (CCCCH) • Citizens Coalition (Frente Civico) • Educating for Justice • National Community Reinvestment Coalition • National Congress for Community Economic Development • Campaign to Stop Killer Coke/Corporate Campaign, Inc. • Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood • Sprawl-Busters**
Make TIAA-CREF Ethical Coalition
Make TIAA-CREF Ethical Coalition
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