8 Jul 2005 @ 15:43, by Raymond Powers
Sprawl-Busters: Hitting Wal-Mart & the Brand Name Bullie Where it Hurts
Press Release
JULY 5, 2005
Sprawl-Busters, Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood
Group Asks Pension Fund To Drop Wal-Mart, Coke Stocks
BOSTON - July 5 - A coalition of activists in Massachusetts is asking the
nation's largest pension fund, TIAA-CREF--a retirement fund with $300
billion in assets, mainly for educators--to divest its stock in Wal-Mart and
Coke "for the greater good."
The "Make TIAA-CREF Ethical" (MTCE) Coalition will be passing out $20
"Walton Bucks" in front of the pension fund's Boston office at 28 State
Street on Tuesday, July 11th at noon, along with "Killer Coke" dollars. The
Wal-Mart bucks feature the face on S. Robson Walton, the Chairman of
Wal-Mart's Board of Directors, with a message on the back urging TIAA-CREF
to drop its stock in the giant retailer. The Killer Coke dollars will
describe how Coca-Cola's marketing practices have contributed to an epidemic
of childhood obesity.
The MTCE charges that a pension fund which prides itself on being responsive
to shareholders and a "concerned investor" with regard to social
responsibility, has no business investing in ethically-challenged companies
like Wal-Mart and Coke.
As of January 1, 2005, TIAA-CREF held 23,108,470 shares in Wal-Mart, which
had a value at the time of roughly $1.22 billion. Yet Wal-Mart has been
internationally criticized for its exploitation of sweatshop labor in Third
World countries, its harmful environmental and land use practices in the
United States, its abusive labor practices with its own workforce (forced
work off the clock, sexual, racial and disability discrimination) and its
war against small town quality of life.
TIAA-CREF is also a major investor in Coke and even includes the company in
its Social Choice accounts. The Coca-Cola Company has come under increasing
fire for its human rights and environmental abuses overseas and for
marketing nutritionally deficient products to children in the U.S. Despite
their claims that they do not advertise to children under twelve, Coke
designs toys for young children, markets their products extensively in
schools to children of all ages, and its product placement is ubiquitous on
programs like American Idol, one of the top-rated shows for children.
Coca-Cola also lobbies extensively against policies - such as prohibitions
on vending machines in schools - that would help combat childhood obesity.
"Exploiting children's health for profit is not a social choice," said Josh
Golin from the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood.
"It's time for TIAA-CREF to use its considerable financial clout to pressure
Coca-Cola to end all marketing to children."
"We shouldn't have to teach the teacher's fund," added Al Norman of
Sprawl-Busters. "Wal-Mart has no place in a socially responsible investment
portfolio." Norman predicted that Wal-Mart stock will continue to take a
hammering for its socially unacceptable behavior across the U.S., Mexico and
other nations-and thus is a bad investment for the pension fund anyway.
Make TIAA-CREF Ethical is a national coalition that urges the pension giant
to divest of shares in corporations involved in human rights violations, and
public health and environmental degradation, and instead invest in socially
responsible ventures. In Massachusetts, Sprawl-Busters and the Campaign for
a Commercial-Free Childhood are part of the national MTCE coalition. The
Boston event is a run-up to TIAA-CREF's Annual Meeting in New York City on
July 19th, at which the MTCE will be holding events inside and outside the
TIAA-CREF headquarters in Manhattan.
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