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07756 November 21, 2007
Priority business
Mission Responsibility Through Investment committee has full slate of work for '07-'08
by Toya Richards Hill Presbyterian News Service
LOS ANGELES, CA - Corporate accountability and access to capital will remain key to the work of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s Mission Responsibility Through Investment Committee (MRTI) in 2007-2008.
The committee approved the priority issues work plan it will use next year during its meeting here Nov. 8-10. MRTI, a committee of the General Assembly and staffed through the PC(USA)'s Peace and Justice program area, is charged with monitoring the denomination's investments to make sure they support socially responsible pursuits in line with GA policies.
The 14-page work plan, available on MRTI's Web site, [ http://www.pcusa.org/mrti/ ] outlines the committee's key commitments, and how the group will go about addressing them.
Integral to the work plan is MRTI's efforts in the area of global corporate accountability. That includes making sure vendors and suppliers corporations use to make products are living up to standards covering everything from the health and safety of workers to support of community infrastructure.
Among MRTI's program initiatives related to vendors and suppliers will be continuing talks along with other ecumenical partners with toy-makers Hasbro and Mattel and retailers Wal-Mart and Urban Outfitters, with shareholder resolutions co-filed as warranted. MRTI also will take the lead in reinstating dialogues with clothier J.C. Penney.
One area of success for MRTI has been its work with Time Warner, which markets a host of products through its business units such as Warner Bros. Entertainment and Home Box Office (HBO). Pressure from shareholders, among other things, prompted the corporate giant to develop Ethical Sourcing Guidelines, which are currently being implemented.
Time Warner products are made in more than 80 countries in 15,000 factories, Michelle Crozier, vice president of corporate responsibility for Warner Bros. Entertainment and Time Warner, told MRTI members during their meeting.
"We're relying heavily on licensees," which own or sub-contract with production facilities, she said. Yet Time Warner acknowledges that being removed from factories as a result of the licensees doesn't insulate it from risks, Crozier said.
Included in Time Warner's guidelines are expectations regarding child labor, working hours and compensation, and coercion and harassment. Among other things, the company also will engage in factory audits to ensure compliance.
MRTI's 2007-2008 work plan indicates the committee will check in with Time Warner every six months as it implements its Ethical Sourcing Guidelines.
Also included in the committee's work this year will be a look into the money transfer practices of Western Union as it relates to migrant workers sending money back home to Mexico.
Acting on a concern raised by the PC(USA)'s Advocacy Committee for Racial Ethnic Concerns (ACREC), [ http://www.pcusa.org/acrec ] MRTI's work will involve exploring the alleged additional fees charged migrant workers and their families during the wiring process.
The issue falls under MRTI's work plan category of access to capital. In 2007 committee dialogues and resolutions in that category focused largely on predatory lending, and in the upcoming year work will include sub-prime lending and servicing of mortgages.
MRTI members heard detailed information during their meeting about the current mortgage-lending crisis from John Lind, executive director of the non-profit research organization CANICCOR, formerly known as the California-Nevada Interfaith Committee on Corporate Responsibility.
He outlined the status of the nation's large volume of sub-prime loans - high interest loans to borrowers who do not qualify for conventional loans - and specifically highlighted the role played by mortgage servicers in contributing to the thousands of defaults and foreclosures across the country.
"We need to be on the side of pushing the services to do the best job they can," said Lind. Servicers' roles include handle monthly payments and dealing with delinquencies and foreclosures.
It's MRTI's responsibility to meet with those corporations that service mortgages, "but it's also important to move the church toward providing education and help on the issue," said MRTI Chair Carol Hylkema.
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