wfn.org | Disney Shareholder Resolution

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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 (3431 notes).

Note 3430 by UMNS on Feb. 12, 1997 at 15:52 Eastern (4648 characters).

SEARCH: Disney, United Methodist, stockholders
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CONTACT: Linda Bloom                           76(10-21-71B){3430}
          New York (212) 870-3803                    Feb. 12, 1997

United Methodist pension board
calls for Disney standards
               
          by United Methodist News Service

     The Walt Disney Company should set and monitor standards for
the suppliers of goods and services it contracts with, according
to the United Methodist Board of Pension and Health Benefits and
other investors.
     The results of a vote by Disney stockholders on such a
resolution will be announced during Disney's annual meeting Feb.
25 in Anaheim, Calif.
     Filed last September by the pension board and Progressive
Asset Management, a retail brokerage firm, the contract supplier
standards resolution requests Disney's board of directors to
report on its standards and review compliance mechanisms for
vendors, subcontractors and buying agents in the countries
involved. A summary of results would be reported to shareholders
by next September.
     Vidette Bullock Mixon, the pension board's director of
corporate responsibility and social concerns, said the resolution
fits with one of its concerns regarding investments in U.S.
companies. The board wants to insure those companies "provide
their employees with sustainable wages and adequate environmental
and safety controls in the workplace," she explained.
     The Board of Pension and Health Benefits owns 107,800 shares
of Disney stock.
     Like many other companies, Disney contracts with independent
producers for goods and services provided outside the United
States; but working conditions are often poor. In May, 1996, a
human rights group released information indicating that workers at
N.S. Mart in Haiti, where shirts are sewn for Disney, receive as
little as $10.77 a week, or 28 cents an hour. Such wages do not
allow workers and their families to meet immediate needs.
     Conrad MacKerron, director of social research for Progressive
Asset Management, said the aim of the contract supplier resolution
and another resolution regarding executive compensation was to
take positive steps to preserve Disney's good name. "Both of these
issues deal with the longterm value of the company," he explained.
     Although Disney's initial response was to file a protest with
the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) about the resolution,
it later withdrew its objections and began discussions regarding
the resolution in early November, according to MacKerron.
     "To their credit, they did respond to most of our questions,"
he said. "They also initiated an internal review."
     MacKerron met with Disney officials on Dec. 12 for four hours
and was encouraged by the "constructive" meeting.
     However, the Board of Pension and Health Benefits and
Progressive Asset Management decided to continue to pursue the
resolution to insure Disney's follow-through, he added.
     MacKerron mailed a letter to Disney stockholders on Jan. 31,
asking for votes supporting resolutions both on contract supplier
standards and executive compensation review.
     "Public concern has escalated over contract sweatshop labor
to manufacture goods for U.S. companies," the letter stated.
"Negative publicity regarding Disney and alleged abuses by
contract suppliers has focused public attention on this problem
and could erode the company's reputation.
     "Disney's contract language requires its contract suppliers
to certify that they do not use child labor or violate health,
safety, wage and hour laws. But as former U.S. Secretary of Labor
Robert Reich has noted, these policies are only as good as a
company's commitment to monitoring and enforcing them."
     The shareholder resolution notes that Disney could be a
leader in enforcing standards through the use of independent
monitoring, such as the system used by The Gap, Inc., in El
Salvador.
     The pension board has taken the lead in a similar shareholder
resolution for Wal-Mart, called Report on Standards for Vendor
Partners, and is in the process of setting up a meeting with the
company, according to Bullock Mixon.
     A 1996 resolution on contract suppliers with Nike Inc. also
met with some success. "Subsequently, Nike has been more
responsive and came to our office in Evanston to talk," she
reported. That meeting has been followed by several telephone
conference calls.
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