1023a Opening Celebration and
Plenary I: Lucia Santini Field at the General Assembly
Planning Committee Sponsored
June 20, 2002
I am a member of the new UUA Committee on Socially Responsible Investing. I recognize the power we UU's, as shareholders, hold in our hands to leverage social change in our communities and beyond ... through our deliberate choices for the investment and management of our personal savings, our church savings and our Association savings. Last year the UUA socially responsible and other socially conscious shareholders persuaded Home Depot to include sexual preference in its non-discrimination policy.
The political freedom and economic liberty we share must be recognized as both a great gift and a tremendous responsibility. As individuals, as congregations and as members of this faith we have an opportunity and a responsibility to use the power of our wealth to bring about positive social change. We must advocate for change in support of the principles of Unitarian Universalism.
The impact of Corporate America's policies on the environment, standard of living and fair treatment of individuals across the globe, without regard to race or gender is unprecedented. Our power to influence the decisions of Corporate America is also unprecedented. We moderate the excesses of capitalism through our democracy. We must use not only our political vote, but perhaps more importantly, our vote as shareholders of America's companies.
We and our congregations can support positive social change in corporate policies and practices by exercising our voting rights and voting all shares at each annual meeting, and by ensuring that the votes cast by others on our behalf, whether in a mutual fund, bank or brokerage firm, reflect our UU values. Increasingly, the issues of critical importance to social investors appear on the annual meeting ballots of companies familiar to us all, and owned by many, whether directly or through a mutual fund. The annual meetings of ExxonMobil, EMC, Bristol-Myers, FleetBank all had shareholder resolutions for social change.
We can and should ask for transparency, for disclosure; it is a critical first step in the process of change. We can and should ask for equitable treatment, fair wages, environmentally sound products and practices. We can exercise our responsibilities and voting rights to further the principles we share and to strengthen the interdependent web of which we are a part.
I have witnessed the power of shareholders to change corporate policies. Home Depot responded to shareholder pressure and now includes sexual preference in its non-discrimination policy. Four major retailers, including CVS, Longs Drug Stores, Eckerd Drug Stores and Kroger agreed to phase out the sale of thermometers containing the toxin mercury. Coca-Cola tripled its use of recycled content in soda bottles, and Pepsi is following suit! Join with me and multiply our strength for positive social and environmental change. We can change our world for the better.
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