News Archives » iccr
ICCR Celebrates 40th Anniversary! June 6th, 2011
The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), of which the Oblates are active members, has been engaging corporations on issues related to the common good for forty years.
Read about ICCR and some recent successful member initiatives.
ICCR Calls on Companies to Adopt Vigorous Policies to Protect Against Human Trafficking May 22nd, 2011
Formal Human Rights Policies Incorporating Increased Vigilance and Training Viewed as Essential to Guard Against Material and Reputational Risk.
The Oblates of Mary Immaculate have joined a coalition of institutional investors from the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), in sending a statement to 25 target companies asking them to make eradicating human trafficking and modern day slavery in their supply chains a top priority.
According to the UN Palermo Protocol of 2000, human trafficking involves the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring and/or receipt of a person for the exploitative purposes of prostitution, forced labor, slavery or servitude.
Click here to read more »
Religious Investors Challenge Goldman Sachs on Excessive Pay May 10th, 2011
Faith-based investors challenged Wall Street’s most powerful investment bank – Goldman Sachs – as it hosted shareholders at its building in Jersey City. The Goldman Sachs AGM was held outside Manhattan for the first time in history as the investment bank sought to head off anger about the fortunes it pays its top people and its role in the financial crisis.
Members of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) pressed Goldman Sachs at its Annual General Meeting last week on the sensitive subjects of executive compensation and pay disparity. Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein had no choice but to listen.
Religious investors introduced a shareholder resolution that asked the investment bank to evaluate whether its compensation packages for senior executives are excessive and should be modified. The resolution garnered just 4% of the vote, but raised uncomfortable questions for the well-paid executives, and won the attention of the Press.
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Fr. Seamus Finn, OMI to Address Business Ethics Conference in Orange County, CA April 12th, 2011
Fr. Seamus Finn, OMI – Director of the Oblate JPIC Office and Board member of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility – will give the keynote address on corporate responsibility and socially responsible investing. He encourages people to integrate their beliefs — such as caring for the environment and paying workers a fair wage — into their investment and business decisions.
“You don’t have to sacrifice return on your investment or profit from your business by integrating either your beliefs or your values into that process,” Fr. Finn said.
He sees the issue moved to the front burner because of the string of problems in the Middle East.
“What it does for me is shine a spotlight on that part of the world and ask a question about whether or not the U.S. has been turning a blind eye to the plight of a lot of citizens in these countries and imported refugee labor because we need the oil,” he said.
But Fr. Finn, who has been pushing for social responsibility in business for more than two decades, said he sees reason for hope as more companies put the environment and people first with tags like organic and sweatshop-free.
“There’s a reason to be optimistic I think because the consumer — the person who’s out there buying a computer or a car or some piece of clothing — they’re asking more questions about where these things come from,” Finn said. “What I think is intriguing and encouraging is that it’s not as difficult to get answers to these questions as it was 20 years ago. You can take our your iPhone or Android and if you have a question, you can put it in there and someplace out there in this vast web of Internet connectivity you’re going to get some answers.”
Read the article at the Daily Pilot
Faith and Finance October 20th, 2010
The ICCR financial services sector team has released a White Paper called “Faith and Finance: Finding Common Ground to Protect the Common Good”. The paper presents principles considered important both to rebuild the financial system and to restore public confidence in the major financial institutions and government regulators.
Fr. Seamus Finn, OMI is an active member of the ICCR Financial Services team that is responsible for the paper.
