| Council recommends GA denounce Caterpillar |
| Written by Leslie Scanlon, OUTLOOK national reporter | ||||||||||||||
| Friday, 26 February 2010 22:42 | ||||||||||||||
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LOUISVILLE — The General Assembly Mission Council voted 24-9 on Feb. 26 to approve a recommendation that the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) denounce Caterpillar Inc. for continuing to profit from “non-peaceful” use of its bulldozers and other equipment in Israel. Brian Ellison, a minister from Missouri and chair of the denomination’s Mission Responsibility Through Investment Committee (MRTI), told the council that “something needs to change” and that, despite attempts to negotiate with Caterpillar, “things are worse now than they were two years ago.” Caterpillar continues to sell bulldozers and other equipment that are being used to demolish homes of Palestinians and to build the separation barrier between Jerusalem and the West Bank, Ellison told the council’s Justice Committee. “We need to continue to be a prophetic voice and to speak out,” said Andrew Sonneborn, a council member from Springfield, Ill. – not far from the Caterpillar corporate offices. “For many years, Caterpillar declined to meet” with MRTI or with other ecumenical groups working on issues of socially-responsible investing, Ellison said, in part because legal action was pending involving the death of Rachel Corrie, a young American woman who died in 2003, struck by a bulldozer operated by the Israel Defense Forces while protesting a home demolition. Eventually, Caterpillar officials did meet twice with MRTI, he said. But “they have not acknowledged responsibility for the end use of their products,” Ellison said. The company’s position is “they sell tractors. What people do with them is not their responsibility.” The decision on the MRTI recommendation regarding Caterpillar is one of a series of measures being considered by the PC(USA) that are drawing attention from Jewish groups. Close attention is being paid to the report of the General Assembly’s Middle East study group which is due to be completed March 5, and which, while still not complete, already has drawn criticism. The council also approved on Feb. 26 sending two theological reports – one called “Christians and Jews: People of God,” and the other “Toward an Understanding of Christian-Muslim Relations” to the General Assembly. Some council members argued against approving the MRTI recommendation, in part because some Presbyterians in Great Rivers Presbytery, near Caterpillar’s corporate headquarters, said such an action could cause difficulty for people employed by Caterpillar and for Presbyterian congregations in the area. “The prophetic and the social justice ministries of the church are very important,” said council member Clark Cowden, executive presbyter of San Diego Presbytery. But when those ministries threaten “the fragile connectional nature” of the church, it’s time to step back, Cowden said. Some Presbyterians from Great River Presbytery located in central Illinois near Caterpillar’s corporate headquarters, sent the council a letter in which they state that divestiture could have “devastating consequences” for Presbyterian churches in the area. That letter - on which the presbytery has not formally voted — states that Caterpillar makes construction and mining equipment, which often is used in humanitarian response in times of disaster. “Caterpillar, Inc. is a valued and valuable member of the Peoria, Illinois, community,” the letter states. “For many people in Central Illinois, Caterpillar is not only a corporate giant, a good investment, and a source of the kind of heavy equipment that is needed to do work in times of stability and times of instability. It is also the employer that provides the income for many families, including many Presbyterian families. … In one of our largest and fastest growing churches in Peoria, thirty per cent of the members are currently employed by Caterpillar or its subsidiaries. The other two large PC(USA) congregations in Peoria would reflect the same kind of numbers.” The letter states that “if the PC(USA) divests from Caterpillar, they are considering `divesting’ from the denomination.” Ellison said MRTI has met several times with representatives from Great River Presbytery, and “I appreciate very much the concern about the connectional nature of the church.” But “there actually are far more presbyteries who will be agitated and disturbed by our failing to take a step,” he said. Newark Presbytery, for example, has submitted an overture asking the 2010 General Assembly to begin the process of divesting from Caterpillar, and not to reinvest unless MRTI “is fully satisfied that Caterpillar, Inc. no longer engages in the selling of equipment to Israel that is used to build illegal Israeli settlements, construct walls that illegally encroach upon Palestinian lands cutting Palestinians off from their own property and natural resources, destroy Palestinian life and property, and otherwise continue to support the occupation of Palestinian territories.” The overture states that denouncing Caterpillar won’t change the company’s corporate behavior. “Now that corporate engagement is no longer a realistic option, the only option left is divestment,” it states in the rationale. “It is no longer a question about how long we can wait, but rather, whether we will do the right thing, or even anything at all.” There is considerable history involving the PC(USA) and divestment in companies doing business in Israel. In 2004, the General Assembly was hit with a blast of controversy when it voted to have the PC(USA) begin the process of phased, selective divestiture in five companies — Motorola, Citigroup, ITT Industries, United Technologies, and Caterpillar. In 2006, the assembly passed a statement that the denomination’s investments in Israel-Palestine be invested “in only peaceful pursuits,” and saying that MRTI should use a process of corporate engagement to achieve that. In June 2007, satisfied with the progress, MRTI removed Citigroup from the focus list for corporate engagement. It recently added Hewlett-Packard to the list — equipment it produces is used at checkpoints along the separation barrier, Ellison said — and MRTI has continuing engagement with Motorola, ITT, United Technologies, and Hewlett-Packard, he added. The techniques of engagement include sending letters, holding meetings, filing shareholder resolutions, and working ecumenically, he said. But with Caterpillar, “we have not seen the progress we would like to see,” Ellison told the council’s Justice Committee. “We’re running out of options within the regular corporate engagement process.” Near the close of its plenary session Feb. 25, the full council had some preliminary conversation about the MRTI recommendation. “It’s mind-boggling to me” that the council would consider such a recommendation, said Steve Tonissen of Illinois, an at-large member of the council’s Stewardship Committee, because so many companies do business with Israel and could be singled out for scrutiny. “I’ll bet you could find Campbell’s Soup cans in the Israeli Army,” so why not add hundreds of firms to the scrutiny list, Tonissen asked. “Don’t limit yourself,” he said. “Go after everybody.” Ellison responded that “the General Assembly initiated this process,” not MRTI. “We’re being responsive to the General Assembly.” Before the council’s vote, Cowden said he doubted that the PC(USA)’s action would convince Caterpillar to see things differently. “I think it will deteriorate the relationship,” he said, and “the brunt of this will be felt by one presbytery.” But Roger Gench, a council member from Washington, D.C., said the MRTI recommendation could push Presbyterians to take a closer look at their own personal investments. “This is a very profound witness to members of the Presbyterian church that we have responsibilities,” Gench said. “We all ought to be sensitized” to the way our personal investments are connected to companies “whose products are used for purposes of violence and war. … That’s part of our Christian responsibility.” Your Responses (7)
P. Gregory
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Lambertville NJ Everytime the PCUSA chooses to stir the pot on the Palestinian-Israel conflict the charge has been made by some, thought by countless others, that the PCUSA may be an anti-semitic organization both in practice and ideology. As a long time and documented critic of the curernt organizational management structure of Louisville and its organs, I can find no evidence, overt or covert, that would support such a finding. Either in the classic sense of the term or the neo-classical application, where any critical statement on or of Israel, seems to get painted with the anti-semitic brush. Misguided as they may be, the PCUSA does not deserve such treatment. Any pro-Palestinian, Hammas, PLO bias of the PCUSA coroprate structure is more due to their cultural and academic bias as it comes to the Jewish state, than due to any hatred of Jews, simply because they happen to be Jews. You cannot pass a single hallway in any PCUSA related seminary or college and not see statements of solidarity with Palestinian people, struggle against oppression, free so and so, and so on. Palestine as an issue for the PCUSA and its social-witness camp gets caught up the rainbow of issues from the Iraq War, to Feminism and reproductive right, to save the whales, to sexual minority rights, to solar wind technology. The PCUSA says many things, to many people, all the time. From time to time it gets the headines as it does from the "Outlook" when something of controversy comes down the path. More times than not I wonder if anybody is really paying attention to its pontifications, beyond the activists at the ends of the spectrum, theological or political, and ideological. |
Jim Dove
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Bluffton, S.C. I have been thinking about the recommendation to remove Caterpillar stock from our portfolio and wonder how may other companies have been included as stocks to sell based on how their products are used. Do we Presbyterians believe that Israel would refrain from building walls if they had purchased Kubota equipment from Japan? I believe this is a slippery slope. Caterpillar has had a stellar history and provides high quality jobs for tens of thousands of Americans. Their products are used to build churches, colleges, highways, dams that prevent floods, and grow crops that feed the entire world. I submit that there are not many companies in the world today that has never sold a product that was used for evil. Is Kodak responsible for pornography because they make the film? Is Xerox responsible for counterfeiting because they made the copiers? Do we believe the phone companies are responsible for the content of conversations transmitted over their systems? I would hope we would find more realistic objectives as we select stocks for our portfolio. It is unreasonable to hold Caterpillar responsible for the Israelis building walls with their tractors. Jim Dove Bluffton, S.C. |
G P Wiest
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Pittsburgh, Pa China has illegally occupied several countries including Tibet, yet there is not one overture to boycott Chinese companies. When a group like the PCUSA singles out Israel and the companies that do business with her, we call this anti-Semitism. I just visited a Holocaust exhibit in London. Those who did business with Jews were singled out and punished. To boycott Caterpiller because they do business with Israel is a policy of hate straight out of the fascist playbook. Why is it that mainline Christians always find a way to produce policies of hatred towards Jews? |
Jim Dove
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... I have been thinking about the recommendation to remove Caterpillar stock from our portfolio and wonder how may other companies have been included as stocks to sell based on how their products are used. Do we Presbyterians believe that Israel would refrain from building walls if they had purchased Kubota equipment from Japan? I believe this is a slippery slope. Caterpillar has had a stellar history and provides high quality jobs for tens of thousands of Americans. Their products are used to build churches, colleges, highways, dams that prevent floods, and grow crops that feed the entire world. I submit that there are not many companies in the world today that has never sold a product that was used for evil. Is Kodak responsible for pornography because they make the film? Is Xerox responsible for counterfeiting because they made the copiers? Do we believe the phone companies are responsible for the content of conversations transmitted over their systems? I would hope we would find more realistic objectives as we select stocks for our portfolio. It is unreasonable to hold Caterpillar responsible for the Israelis building walls with their tractors. |
Jim Dove
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Bluffton, SC This is another opportunity to disparage a group of Presbyterian USA members. Do you have jobs for them? Is there any group we like? We lose more members with every attack. |
Liz Letzler
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Baldwin NY The issue is not about doing business with Israel or the military, but profiting from violence against others. Israel's military occupation of Palestine is violent and harshly oppressive. It must end. Use of Caterpillar products is central to destruction of homes, businesses, wells, infrastructure, and other structures in Palestine. As Christians we are called to stand against injustice of this sort. On the larger topic of socially responsible investing, PCUSA is at the forefront of working with companies to develop business plans and models that are just and sustainable over the long term. The list of companies the PCUSA and its ecumenical partners work with regularly is lengthy. For example, just this week Colgate Palmolive agreed to shareholder Say on Pay. Most clergy could earn a much higher salary had they chosen a different career. Study after study after study demonstrates that socially responsible investing pays off over the long run. But even if it didn't, after a career of low wages in the church why would a few more dollars a month in a pension check be desirable if they were in fact wages of death, destruction, and injustice? Taking on the powerful is neither easy nor pleasant. But that is our call to faithfulness. |
P. Gregory
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Lambertville, NJ One thing to remember about the political and theological theator that is the GA and the whole social witness program is that, it is theator. Cat. is a company with a 80 billion dollar market cap with over 5 billion in sales last year. Whatever business is done in Israel is but a small fraction of global sales. And why the PCUSA does not cast its pointy finger at say Kraft Foods that had millions of government contracts in Iraq, or Microsoft, Cisco, or Perrot systems that supplies software to military computers is an odd one to figure. Then again the relatonship between the denomination and the Jewish state has always been problematic to say the least. United flies 12 times a week between NYC and Tel Aviv, why not them in the line of fire? Here is a fact that is not hard to figure out in terms of the denominational investment portfolio. Within 5 years the church will reach a tippng point in its pension and medical plans where retired clergy, church workers, and those on disability will outnumber those still working and churches able to pay into the system. And this in light of a declining denomination with far fewer churches paying into the system. The math simply does not work. At that point one would hope that the various social awareness investment vehicles the church has built up begins to pay off. If not, well, there is always the odd jobs at Walmart to tide one over. Where is one's social outrage at that point? |
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