[Lasnetmail] Need Calls-Emails to TIAA-CREF Now! Campaign Appeal to TIAA-CREF

[lucho]

Killer Coke New Release, August 24, 2006

     
      Campaign to Stop Killer Coke Update
      The Campaign to Stop Killer Coke is a part of the Make TIAA-CREF Ethical Coalition. The following is a request that supporters contact the CEO of TIAA-CREF to urge the pension plan to take a proactive approach to make Coca-Cola and the other targeted companies to clean up their acts and become responsible. Following the request from the Coalition is an appeal written to TIAA-CREF by the Campaign to Stop Killer Coke. 


      Make TIAA-CREF Ethical
      Whether You Are A TIAA-CREF Participant Or Not,
      We Need Your Help To Promote Responsible Corporate Behavior
      Through the years - and due to the contributions of many - we have moved pension giant TIAA-CREF to institute various socially responsible investments and policies. For example, hundreds of millions of dollars have been put toward low-income area community investment. Due to our lobbying, TIAA-CREF decided last year to engage in shareholder advocacy to influence companies engaging in socially and environmentally irresponsible behavior. 

      TIAA-CREF has now begun decision-making on which issues and companies to influence. The Make TIAA-CREF Ethical coalition (see members below) has targeted six companies because of specific egregious behaviors. They are: (go to www.MakeTIAA-CREFethical.org for details) 

      Altria/Philip Morris, responsible for Marlboro-the #1 cigarette brand among youth 
      Nike and Wal-Mart, widely condemned for their use of sweatshop labor (and Wal-Mart for and other bad practices for its impact on domestic labor, sprawl, and local economies) 
      Costco, for its warehouse in Cuernavaca, Mexico, which severely damages an archeological site and abuses human rights 
      Chevron, for supporting the repressive government in Burma 
      Coca-Cola, for human rights and environmental abuses overseas-and advertising to children in the U.S. 

      We ask you to contact TIAA-CREF now to make it known that: 
      . The Make TIAA-CREF Ethical coalition thanks TIAA-CREF for agreeing to do shareholder advocacy on issues of social responsibility. 
      . You are aware that TIAA-CREF will soon be making decisions on which issues and companies to pursue as regards such advocacy. 
      . You urge TIAA-CREF to consider the proposal submitted by the Coalition to target these companies of concern. 
      . (You can also thank them briefly for their 9/19/06 announcement that they will be putting $100 million into "microfinance" that will help local small business development in third world countries.) 

      Communicate that message to CEO Herbert Allison; 800-842-2733; 212-490-9000; HAllison at tiaa-cref.org (Calls are far preferable-you can simply leave a message with an assistant.) Strengthen your influence with an additional brief message to trustees at tiaa-cref.org. 

      The Make TIAA CREF Ethical coalition consists of: The US Campaign for Burma . Corporate Accountability International (formerly Infact) . World Bank Bonds Boycott . Press for Change . Social Choice for Social Change . Canadian Committee To Combat Crimes Against Humanity (CCCCH) . Citizens Coalition (Frente Civico) . Educating for Justice . National Community Reinvestment Coalition . Campaign to Stop Killer Coke/Corporate Campaign, Inc. . Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood . Sprawl-Busters 

      For further information contact: 
      Neil Wollman, Ph.D. 
      Senior Fellow, Peace Studies Institute, and 
      Professor of Psychology, 
      Manchester College 
      260-982-5346 
      NJWollman at manchester.edu 

      Make TIAA-CREF Ethical is a project of 
      the Peace Studies Institute, Manchester College. 

      =============================================================== 

      This is the appeal made by the Campaign to Stop Killer Coke and sent to TIAA-CREF:
      Dear TIAA-CREF, 

      I urge you to include the Coca-Cola Company among the list of companies you target for shareholder action. 

      As you know, Coca-Cola was removed from the Broad Market Social Index (BMSI) that led to the divestment of Coca-Cola stock from CREF's Social Choice account. KLD's action to remove Coca-Cola from the BMSI happened because of the mounting evidence that Coca-Cola operations on a global scale are involved in widespread labor, human rights and environmental abuses. 

      For example, Coca-Cola and its bottlers in Colombia are defendants in two Alien Tort Claims lawsuits filed in July 2001 and June 2006. The lawsuits charge that the bottlers are involved in the systematic intimidation, kidnapping, torture and murder of union leaders. 

      In India, Coca-Cola's largest plant remains shut down and daily protests continue because of the overexploitation and pollution of water sources. This has caused great hardship and despair for many people and agricultural communities around Coke bottling plants throughout India. And recently, Coca-Cola has been banned from hundreds of schools and government agencies because of the high levels of pesticides in its beverages. 

      Coca-Cola is also being widely criticized for maximizing profits by exploiting children. The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood points out that obesity is a serious and growing problem for children. Yet even as evidence mounts that soft drinks are contributing to childhood obesity and its attendant health problems, Coca-Cola continues to aggressively market their products to kids. Coca-Cola's guidelines for marketing to children state, "The Coca-Cola Company and its local bottling partners do not aim or direct any marketing activity from any source to children under the age of 12," but a quick glance at some of Coke's marketing practices demonstrate this claim is simply not true. There are Coke toys such as checker sets and cars that are designed to introduce kids as young as two to the Coca-Cola brand. Coke's product placement is ubiquitous on American Idol, the top-rated show for children ages 2-11. Coca-Cola also aggressively markets it products to children in schools. 

      The Coca-Cola Company has also undermined legislators, public health officials and concerned parents who have tried to improve children's diets by removing sweetened beverages from our nation's schools. In Indiana, Coca-Cola sent five lobbyists to defeat a bill that would have reduced soda sales in schools by fifty percent. In Oregon, Coca-Cola was a leading opponent of attempts to phase out the sale of junk food and sugar-laden soft drinks from public schools, and ultimately helped defeat the legislation. In Connecticut, Coca-Cola's lobbyist was instrumental in getting Governor Jodi Rell to veto what would have been the nation's strongest school-based nutrition law. 

      Coca-Cola is receiving bad publicity continuously in local and national media worldwide. In August, Business Week wrote that Coca-Cola, the most valued brand name in the world, lost about 1 percent of its value, which translates into more than a $525 million loss. 

      HispanicBusiness.com stated (9/1/06): "The string of woes has already taken some toll on Coke. Its shares have traded flat for the last year, and the value of the Coca-Cola brand slipped 1 percent in the last year, according to the most recent BusinessWeek/Interbrand Annual Ranking of the Top 100 Global Brands [see BusinessWeek.com, 8/7/06, 'The World's Best Brands.]." 

      In England, Germany and Italy, protesters demonstrated against Coke's sponsorship of the Olympics and the World Cup. Supporters carried banners and wore t-shirts to "Stop Killer Coke". Currently there are 31 colleges and universities that have banned Coke products, including New York University, the largest private university in the U.S, and Rutgers University, one of the largest public universities in the U.S. Recently, DePaul University, the largest Catholic university in the country, and Queensborough Community College of the City University of New York, and the UK's Sussex University have removed and banned the further sale of Coke products on their campuses. There are campaigns at almost 200 colleges, universities and high schools, including four campuses in Germany whose student parliaments voted in July to wage campaigns to ban Coke from their campuses. In Berlin, the campaign could result in 14 campuses banning Coca-Cola. 

      In addition, some of the largest unions throughout the U.S. and Europe have banned Coke from their facilities and functions and have called on their members to boycott all Coke products. These unions include many teacher organizations, such as the 525,000-member New York State United Teachers and the California Federation of Teachers, which have thousands of members in TIAA-CREF. In addition, many human rights organizations and other groups have called for a boycott of Coke. 

      Similarly, following resolutions passed by the Society for Cultural Anthropology; the Society of Anthropology of North America (SANA), and the American Ethnological Society (AES) and other local anthropological groups, the American Anthropological Association (AAA), representing more than 10,000 members in colleges and universities, passed a resolution to support "the Colombian union SINALTRAINAL's call for a boycott of The Coca-Cola Company and its products, and calls on its members to do the same." 

      Over the past several years proxy resolutions focusing on human rights and environmental concerns have appeared on The Coca-Cola Company's proxy statement sponsored by various individuals and institutions including the New York City Public Employees Retirement System, the Presbyterian Church USA and B. Wardlaw, a philanthropist and descendant and heir of one of the first large investors in Coke stock. 

      TIAA-CREF's choosing Coca-Cola as one of the companies to place special emphasis on regarding corporate accountability issues would be a big boost to forcing this company to clean up its act. It's the right thing for TIAA-CREF to do and it's the smart thing to do to protect its investments. 

      TIAA-CREF should support any proxy resolution calling for a truly independent investigation into labor and human rights abuses at Coca-Cola bottling plants in Colombia and elsewhere; and on its own should request that Coke facilitate such an investigation. Such an investigation should include legitimate human rights groups from within and outside Colombia. It should not be conducted by any group, organization, or institution, such as the United Nations or its International Labor Organization, that have any financial or personnel relationships with Coca-Cola. TIAA-CREF should ban the sale and promotion of all Coca-Cola products in its facilities and at its functions. 

      TIAA-CREF should also ask Coke to end all marketing aimed at children (including in-school marketing, product-placement, and Coke toys) and stop lobbying against policies that would improve children's diets. More than 40 distinguished healthcare professionals and advocates for children asked TIAA-CREF to remove The Coca-Cola Company from CREF's Social Choice Account. 

      TIAA-CREF should also ask that Coke no longer usurp for its own purposes water supplies in India and elsewhere where water is needed for its own citizens. 

      Sincerely, 

      Ray Rogers 
      Campaign To Stop Killer Coke 
      www.KillerCoke.org 
      StopKillerCoke at aol.com 
      718-852-2808 

     Campaign to Stop KILLER COKE
      We are seeking your help to stop a gruesome cycle of murders, kidnappings, and torture of union leaders and organizers involved in daily life-and-death struggles at Coca-Cola bottling plants in Colombia, South America.

      "If we lose the fight against Coca-Cola, we will first lose our union, next our jobs and then our lives." SINALTRAINAL VIce President Juan Carlos Galvis


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      "We believe the evidence shows that Coca-Cola and its corporate network are rife with immorality, corruption and complicity in murder." 
      Campaign to Stop Killer Coke/Corporate Campaign, Inc. Director Ray Rogers

      Visit www.KillerCoke.org
     
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