News Archives » corporate social responsibility
Chevron Human Rights Resolution Supported by Oblates June 18th, 2009
Using a proxy from the Missionary Oblates, Michael Eisenscher of U.S. Labor Against the War addressed the Annual General Meeting of the Chevron Corporation on May about the company’s efforts to profit from Iraqi oil. The company profited, in particular, from a widely-opposed oil law that would give foreign corporations like Chevron almost complete control of Iraq’s oil industry, to the detriment of the rights of ordinary Iraqis.
Members of the True Cost of Chevron coalition presented their alternative annual report directly to Chevron management and CEO David O’Reilly (who disparagingly responded during the meeting that it “deserves the trash can”). Edited and painstakingly researched by Antonia Juhasz, with help from a coalition of over a dozen groups, “The True Cost of Chevron” highlights the tragic human consequences that are the flip side of the record profits Chevron collected in 2008. It can be downloaded for free at http://truecostofchevron.com/report.html
Chevron is finding itself increasingly in the spotlight over the harmful consequences of its operations, and shareholders are deeply concerned, as evidenced by the 28% support yet again this year for the resolution calling for a clear human rights policy. 28% is considered extremely good performance for a shareholder resolution of this type. Investors representing billions of dollars in Chevron stock have spoken up in support of greater social responsibility, and although the True Cost of Chevron’s coalition’s speakers inside the meeting were treated dismissively by CEO O’Reilly, Chevron is taking notice.
Oblates Work with Parishioners to Save Mortgages April 27th, 2009
John Lasseigne, OMI is a priest at Mary Immaculate Catholic Church in the Southern California community of Pacoima, where one in every nine homes is in some stage of foreclosure. He says the people in this community were targeted by predatory lenders and given loans they never should have qualified for.
Fr. Lasseigne and others at Mary Immaculate, has been working with One-LA, a community organizing effort in Los Angeles, to help parishioners re-finance problematic mortgages.
CNN recently did a story on this effort. Watch the video…
Socially Responsible Investors Call for Transition to a Low-Carbon, Socially Sustainable Economy April 15th, 2009
Umbrella organizations for the sustainable and responsible finance industry, including the Social Investment Forum, of which the Oblates are a member, have issued an important statement on transforming global capital markets.
They contend that “the current economic crisis affords a unique opportunity and imperative to transition to a low-carbon, resource efficient and socially sustainable economy.” The groups thus have called upon world leaders to respond to the economic challenge facing the global economy by incorporating sustainability and social responsibility measures into both the economic stimulus packages for short-term recovery and the longer-term reform of the credit and investment markets.
