wfn.org | Investors Targeted Texaco

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS" by SUSAN PEEK on Aug. 11, 1991 at 13:58 Eastern,
about FULL TEXT RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (3335 notes).

Note 3325 by UMNS on Dec. 12, 1996 at 10:25 Eastern (3737 characters).

SEARCH: Texaco, racism, discrimination, Interfaith Center on
Corporate Responsibility
Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of
the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New
York, and Washington.

CONTACT:  Linda Bloom                         613(10-21-71B){3325}
          New York (212)870-3803                      Dec. 5, 1996

NOTE TO EDITORS: This is the first of two parts.

Texaco previously targeted
on diversity by religious investors

                        A UMNS News feature
                          by Linda Bloom*

     NEW YORK (UMNS) -- When evidence of blatant racism triggered
a full-fledged scandal for Texaco in early November, it wasn't
much of a surprise for members of the Interfaith Center on
Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) here.
     For the past six years, in fact, 20 ICCR members with
holdings in Texaco have written letters, sponsored shareholder
resolutions and engaged in dialogue with the oil company on the
issues of discrimination, equal employment opportunity and
diversity on its board of directors.
     Lois Dauway can recall vividly a meeting several years ago
among four ICCR representatives, Texaco's chief counsel and two
executives. Dauway, currently a United Methodist Board of Global
Ministries Women's Division executive, then worked for the
National Council of Churches.
     The Texaco representatives were pressed on the issue of
diversity, particularly for their board of directors. Dauway
shared some positive aspects of inclusiveness. 
     According to Dauway, Carl Davidson, the chief counsel,
"looked at me and said, 'we're not just looking for skirts or a
black face to put on our board."
     She later recounted that story at a shareholder's meeting.
Afterward, Texaco employees began calling her with their own
stories of discrimination and racism.
     While the ICCR-sponsored resolutions failed to pass -- due to
lack of support from some of Texaco's largest shareholders -- the
organization's influence had registered.
     Timothy Smith, a United Methodist and ICCR's executive
director, pointed out that Texaco chairman Peter Bijur met face-
to-face with religious investors at ICCR headquarters on Nov. 15 -
- just a few hours before the company announced a $176 million
settlement to end a lawsuit filed by black employees. 
     There, ICCR members pressed Bijur to implement 16 measures 
designed to end discrimination and diversify Texaco's board of
directors, management and workforce.
     Texaco is just one of many large corporations that ICCR has
challenged over the past 25 years. The coalition of 275
Protestant, Roman Catholic and Jewish institutional investors have
combined portfolios worth more than $50 billion.
     United Methodists have been involved since the beginning and
the denomination's Board of Global Ministries, Board of Pension
and Health Benefits, and Board of Church and Society routinely
participate in shareholder actions.
     Over the years, the Board of Pension and Health Benefits --
which screens its investments, files shareholder resolutions,
conducts dialogues with companies and allocates money to alternate
investments such as low-income housing -- has become a model,
according to Smith.
     "They've set up a standard for others to follow," he said.
     The Board of Pension and Health Benefits, for example, is the
lead sponsor of a new shareholder resolution, for inclusion on
Texaco's 1997 proxy statement, calling for a detailed report of
its efforts to diversify and the impact of discrimination
lawsuits.
                              #  #  #

     * Bloom is news director of the United Methodist News Service
office in New York.

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