VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 09/27/07) - National Ministries encourages American Baptists who hold investments in public companies to voice opposition to potential initiatives of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that would limit shareholder rights. The deadline for voicing concern is October 2.
Letters submitted at www.saveshareholderrights.org/takeaction.cfm will still meet the deadline.
For many years, the SEC has allowed shareholders to participate in the governance of public companies through sponsorship of proxy resolutions. Now, new proposals that would limit those resolutions could cripple shareholder advocacy.
National Ministries, American Baptist Churches USA joined with six other Protestant denominations and the National Council of Churches of Christ in 1971 to found the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), which shares information and strategies about corporate activism that includes utilizing investments to press for social change.
This unique partnership led to the filing that year of the first-ever shareholder resolution by a religious investor calling on General Motors to withdraw from South Africa in protest of apartheid.
Shareholder involvement in American companies encourages responsible corporate action related to key issues such as climate change, employee diversity, executive compensation, human rights in overseas factories and much more. Keeping the interests of investors first, and assuring more openness and accountability-not less-will result in a more just society for all.
National Ministries and ICCR encourage institutions, organizations, financial professionals and individuals to join with their 500-organization alliance to stop these new SEC proposals that could severely limit future shareholder advocacy.
Andrew C. Jayne American Baptist Churches, USA Mission Resource Development http://www.abc-usa.org/