Stockholder Resolutions Filed by Church Groups
Diocesan Press Service. January 14, 1974 [74004]
NEW YORK, N. Y. -- A coalition of 10 national religious organizations, including the Episcopal Church, announced on January 8 they are filing an increased number of stockholder resolutions with 20 major American corporations investing in white-ruled Africa.
Represented in the Church Project on United States Investments in Southern Africa are boards of eight Protestant denominations, a Roman Catholic priests' order and the National Council of Churches. The denominations include, in addition to the Episcopal Church, the United Methodist Church, the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., the American Baptist Churches, the United Church of Christ, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and the Reformed Church in America. Also participating are the Unitarian- Universalist Association and the Roman Catholic Atonement Friars.
The 10 organizations in the project represent stock portfolios valued at approximately $17 million. The value of the stock held in the 20 companies with which the churches filed these resolutions is over $700 million.
Supporters of the Church Project has grown from five denominations and the National Council of Churches last year to nine churches and the. NCC participating this year.
Two "firsts " mark this year's corporation challenged. For the first time a Roman Catholic agency -- the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement, Graymoor, Garrison, N.Y. -- is supporting the project. Also, for the first time a Canadian corporation -- Alcan Aluminum -- is being challenged by a stockholder resolution.
Speaking for the coalition at a press conference, Dr. Sterling Cary, the first black president of the National Council of Churches, said that six of the churches, representing approximately $7.3 million worth of stock in the company, are requesting Exxon to withdraw from exploration activities offshore Guinea-Bissau, on Africa's west coast. Guinea-Bissau is Africa's newest independent state, recognized so far by 71 nations around the world (not including the U.S.). Exxon continues to hold a concession for oil exploration there with Portugal. Dr. Cary likened Guinea-Bissau's declaration of independent from Portugal to that of the American nation in 1776.
The Episcopal Church, one of the six bodies filing resolutions with Exxon, holds 12,602 shares, valued at approximately $1. 1 million.
Gulf Oil received a resolution requesting a full disclosure of the facts behind its " new Kuwait in Angola " reported last month. Gulf has been the target of protest and boycott activities because of its massive tax payments to the Portuguese in Angola totaling $61 million in 1972.
Three, and possibly four, oil companies involved in exploration offshore Namibia are being asked to cease those operations immediately. Namibia is a colony illegally occupied by South Africa and ruled in accordance with the South Africa racist apartheid system. Dr. Cary stated that Getty, Standard Oil of California, Phillips Petroleum and Continental Oil are all "flouting" official U.S. policy for Namibia discouraging investment in the disputed territory.
The Episcopal Church, holding 15,600 shares valued at approximately $1 million, has filed a resolution with Phillips Petroleum.
In 1973, participants in the Church Project filed resolutions with 11 companies asking that they issue comprehensive reports to their shareholders on company operations in South Africa. Over half of the companies voluntarily agreed to the request and the resolutions were then withdrawn.
This year, two companies which rejected the church disclosure request last year are receiving new resolutions calling for the establishment of a broad-based committee by the board of directors to study the full implications of their South African investments. The two are IBM and General Electric.
With 10,620 shares valued at approximately $2.5 million, the Episcopal Church is filing shareholder resolutions with IBM.
Nine other companies with investments in South Africa will receive a revised South African "disclosure" resolution for the first time. International Harvester has voluntarily agreed to the resolution. Dr. Cary noted the church coalition expects that "others will follow suit. "
The Episcopal Church, with 10,000 shares valued at approximately $300,000, has filed a resolution with Gillette Company, one of the nine companies receiving a resolution for the first time, asking for disclosure about corporation activity in South Africa.
Father Michael Daniel, Superior General of the Atonement Friars, noted that the participation of his order in the coalition's activities represented but "the tip of the iceberg" for Roman Catholic involvement in the movement by churches for greater corporate social responsibility.
Participants in the press conference said they feel the project is having an effect, making both corporation officials and the public more conscious of the issues, even though stockholder challenges in the past few years have been overwhelmingly defeated.
Dr. Cary noted progress in a campaign begun by the National Council of Churches and the Church Project to halt a series of loans by American and European banks to the South African government. The loans, totaling $210 million, were revealed in secret documents obtained by the Corporate Information Center in July, 1973. He noted that the City National Bank of Detroit agreed to make no future loans to South Africa while the Merchants National Bank of Indianapolis extricated itself from its loan and pledged not to issue future loans. Central National Bank in Chicago has reported a similar policy. An ecumenical group organized by the Presbyterian Church in Detroit met with the chairman of City National Bank to halt its South Africa loans while the Indianapolis bank was approached by the president of the Christian Church (Disciples), a major depositor in the bank.