| Seeds of Change - E-News |
Fall 2006 |
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In this issue:
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[As You Sow] is one of the most effective activist groups in the business.
Randy Hayes
Founder, Rainforest Action Network
and new As You Sow board member
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AT&T: Push for Privacy
AT&T's reported release of customer telephone and e-mail data to federal security
agencies without a court order
raises serious concerns about the credibility of its consumer privacy policies.
As You Sow is leading shareholders in asking the company to report on the impact of the alleged
sharing of customer records and to become an industry leader in defense of privacy protection rights.
The resolution states "We believe this alleged practice is seen by millions of Americans, including customers,
shareholders and employees of AT&T, as a violation of our customers’ privacy expectations
and basic right to have phone and e-mail records kept confidential."
Shareholders expect to vote on the resolution at the next AT&T annual meeting in April 2007.
Leading up to the meeting, As You Sow will engage in vigorous outreach to educate shareholders and solicit votes.
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Learn more about our initiative on consumer privacy.
Protecting Workers from Impacts of Wal-Mart’s Green Reforms
Last October, Wal-Mart released an audacious set of environmental goals. While laudable, we have concerns about whether the
company will follow through, and whether impacts on workers will be taken into account. Buying organic cotton
is great, but it’s not a victory if the organic cloth is still sewn into apparel under sweatshop conditions.
We will participate in meetings with some of the company’s 13 sustainability networks to ensure that
(a) impacts on workers and suppliers are addressed as part of the environmental commitments, and
(b) that implementation costs of these green policy changes are borne primarily by the company rather than suppliers
and workers. In the past, Wal-Mart has sought to force such costs onto suppliers.
Wal-Mart also recently committed to consolidating its vast supply chain of 50,000 suppliers. While the main reason cited
is to improve the quality of merchandise, a consolidated supply chain also makes it easier to
monitor and improve code of conduct compliance, said Conrad MacKerron, director of the As You Sow’s
Corporate Social Responsibility Program.
"Longer, multi-year relationships with factories increase the incentive for labor code compliance by
factory managers. We conveyed to the company the importance of using consolidation as a way to dramatically
improve working conditions in factories. The company acknowledged this could lead to such improvements."
We are also pressing the company to improve its poor record on labor rights in domestic stores.
Nearly 100 charges of unfair labor conduct have been filed against the company by the federal
National Labor Relations Board. This is unacceptable from a company that says one of its three basic tenets is
"respect for the individual."
Learn more.
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Beverage Companies Lack Fizz in Recycling: As You Sow Releases Major Report
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As You Sow has published a major report on the beverage industry’s recycling efforts,
Waste and Opportunity: U.S. Beverage Container Recycling Scorecard and Report.
In collaboration with the Container Recycling Institute, the report gives PepsiCo and Coca-Cola Co. the highest grades; both earned a C.
All other companies scored D- or F with Cadbury Schweppes, Cott and National Beverage, makers of Dr. Pepper, Wal-Mart private label brand,
and Shasta, respectively, performing worst.
"Both Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have shown some leadership by using 10% recycled content in plastic bottles and
promising to work with competitors toward setting beverage container recovery goals," said
As You Sow research director Nishita Bakshi, author of the report. However, most other companies have reported
little progress in significantly improving recycling rates.
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American consumers purchase over 500 million beverage bottles and cans, on average, every day.
Only one-third are recycled while two-thirds are sent to landfills, incinerated or littered. This results in major
pollution and energy impacts, and depletion of aluminum ore and petroleum resources. Producing containers using
virgin resources increases greenhouse gas emissions.
If the current container recycling rate of 34% were increased to 80%, avoided greenhouse gas emissions would be equivalent to taking 2.4 million cars off the road for one year!
Listen to Conrad and Nishita discuss the report on AirAmerica's EcoTalk.
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Legal Win on Public Access
As You Sow gained an important legal victory with a recent settlement of a case against the
State Water Resources Control Board and a dozen of the state's Regional Water Quality Control Boards
over the way they provide "public access" to their records.
To make copies of public records such as toxic discharge applications, permits, and notices of violations
they had difficult access rules and sometimes exorbitant copying fees.
For example the SF Bay WQC Board only allowed copying on Monday and Wednesday from 11am-2pm, and you had to bring
your own commercial copying service, AND they charged 65c per page. Other Boards had charges as high as $1.10
per page.
We filed suit under the California Public Records Act, (PRA), along with co-plaintiffs
RiverLaw and San Bruno Mountain Watch, against all the water boards. After more than a year and a half of
litigation, discovery, and negotiation, the Water Boards, through the AG's office, agreed to a comprehensive
settlement requiring public access during all normal business hours and elimination of administrative fees.
This represents a major public interest victory for the public!
Welcome Randy and Patricia!
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As You Sow welcomes the newest member of our board, Randy Hayes. He is the founder and board president of Rainforest Action Network in addition to Senior Staff with the International Forum on Globalization. Randy is a veteran of many major corporate accountability campaigns.
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We also welcome Patricia Jurewicz, our new Associate Director in the Corporate Social Responsibility Program. Prior to coming on board she was at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) directing the Global Cooperation Project.
Before IATP she was at Gap, Inc. in the Americas Sourcing Office. She is fluent in Spanish and has a background in Latino political outreach and working with women's craft cooperatives in Latin America. She has an International MBA from Thunderbird, the Gavin School of International Management.
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