wfn.org | UMNS# 05134-Board aims to effect change through shareholder

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Board aims to effect change through shareholder gatherings

Mar. 3, 2005	 News media contact:   Tim  Tanton * (615) 7425470*
Nashville {05134}

NOTE: A photograph is available at http://umns.umc.org.

A UMNS Report
By Neill Caldwell*

The United Methodist Church's pension agency is supporting about 20
shareholder resolutions aimed at getting corporations to address such
diverse concerns as the AIDS crisis and ethical management.

"We want to focus corporate management's attention on issues such as
HIV/AIDS, climate risk, global warming, workers' rights on an
international level and issues of diversity at home," said Vidette
Bullock Mixon, director of corporate relations and social concerns for
the United Methodist Board of Pension and Health Benefits.

"Food safety is an emerging issue," she continued. "And we want to
continue to focus on corporate governance, that companies be open and
transparent in their reporting information to investors."

Representing the nation's largest faith-based pension fund, the Board of
Pension and Health Benefits has nearly $12 billion in total assets,
giving it the kind of clout that corporate executives listen to, Bullock
Mixon said.

The agency, based in Evanston, Ill., has more than 66,000 participants
in its coverage plans and invests in more than 3,000 companies. The
board practices socially responsible investing and seeks to influence
corporate behavior in a manner consistent with the United Methodist
Church's Social Principles and Book of Discipline.

For 2005, the board is sponsoring or cosponsoring about 20 shareholder
resolutions for companies such as Rite Aid, Kellogg, Corning, Dow,
Safeway, Best Buy, Office Depot, Apple Computers, Merck, Pfizer,
Wal-Mart, and Bed, Bath & Beyond. Those resolutions will be considered
at the companies' annual shareholder meetings, many of them set for
spring and early summer.

Economic pressure is something that churches can use to effect change,
said Sister Pat Wolf, executive director of the Interfaith Center for
Corporate Responsibility in New York. The board is part of the center's
consortium of 275 faith-based institutional investors.

"The leadership of the General Board of Pensions is vast and very
influential, and has done groundbreaking work in equality and diversity,
in human rights, and in labor standards," Wolf said. "A number of the
United Methodist Church's individual divisions are also very active.

"These important issues-things like global warming, the price of
pharmaceuticals and access to health care-are of great concern to people
in the pews," Wolf said. "These big issues have an impact at the local
level. Students on campus, for example, know they don't want to wear
sports uniforms that are made in a sweatshop."

The Board of Pension and Health Benefits achieved several milestones in
2004. That year, for the first time, board-sponsored resolutions
received approval from company shareholders. Cintas Corp. shareholders
gave 91 percent approval to a resolution that the company publish a
report on its implementation of global standards. And at TJX
Corp.-parent company of TJ Maxx, Marshalls and other retailers-a
resolution directing the company to elect members of its board of
directors annually received 77 percent of the shareholder vote.

Bullock Mixon said the board is pleased with its 2004 successes and
wants to build on those this year.

Several global issues top the list of concerns this year.

The board is asking companies to acknowledge that global warming and
other climate-related issues will impact investor returns, especially in
such industries as oil and gas, Bullock Mixon said.

"We assume that top management will have oversight in making policy
decisions and that they will practice good environmental stewardship,"
she said. "They should establish goals to reduce emissions, and increase
the practices of conservation and recycling."

Much of the work done in 2004 dealt with the HIV/AIDS pandemic in
Africa.

"Initially, we deal with the pharmaceutical companies because they are
in the business of providing the products that address these health
issues," Bullock Mixon said. "Can these companies work together to solve
the problems?  We're including malaria and TB, too.  The needs are so
great that we're also broadening the number of companies we've reached
out to. We've also worked with the United Nations and with the
governments of certain countries."

At the start of 2005, companies have turned their attention to relief
for the tsunami victims in South Asia, "and rightfully so," Bullock
Mixon said. "But the issue of HIV and AIDS deserves companies' long-term
attention. I just read a report about decreasing corporate awareness and
response to the AIDS crisis. We will be doing our best to encourage
companies to be persistent in their efforts."

Another major component of the board's work has been related to
practices that led to the corporate scandals of recent years. Bullock
Mixon said she has seen increased accountability in large corporations
in the wake of the Enron collapse, and noted that the stock exchanges
have updated their policies.

"A lot of that comes from a legislative mandate," she said. "We're
seeing some movement in reporting aspects of business that will have an
impact not only on investors but on society."

The Board of Pension and Health Benefits has called on Wal-Mart to
improve its reporting on company practices, and Wal-Mart has taken out
full-page ads in major newspapers to tell its story, she said.

"As the largest company, perhaps they're held to a higher standard in
areas like community outreach, the environment and diversity," Bullock
Mixon said of Wal-Mart. "We would encourage United Methodists to be
vigilant in calling all companies to higher standards of
accountability."

Enron is an example of a corporation that collapsed because of poor
leadership, Bullock Mixon said. The board is focusing on
"sustainability" or business practices that ensure a company will
survive long into the future.

"Our board is a long-term investor; we want to invest in companies with
a good track record over the long haul," she said. "No one does business
in isolation. You depend on employees, on the community business
environment and on the natural environment."

The board magnifies its impact by working with such partners as the
Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, whose member agencies
have more than $110 billion in total assets. Bullock Mixon is vice
chairperson of the center's board.

The center's organizations "are able to ask questions that might not
otherwise be raised, since an individual often does not have the power
to address the CEO of a corporation," Wolf said.

"Look at the issue of HIV/AIDS in Africa, which is decimating that
continent," she said. "At the ICCR, we would think about how to address
companies on this issue. How will the HIV/AIDS pandemic affect business?
It sounds like a non-spiritual issue. But when you talk to Coca-Cola and
say that nobody will be around to drink Coke unless they do something,
they understand."
# # #
*Caldwell is a freelance journalist based in High Point, NC.

News media contact: Tim Tanton, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.

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United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org