-- Three companies agree to comply with Principles this proxy season--
-- Total of 91 companies have adopted the Principles--

View resolution
View Wal-Mart letter
View Baker Hughes letter
View Sanmina-SCI letter

Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr., on behalf of the New York City’s five Pension Funds, has asked nine U.S.-owned companies that operate subsidiaries in Northern Ireland to implement guidelines to encourage and promote a means for establishing justice and equality in the workplace.

Three companies, Sanmina Corporation-SCI Corporation, Baker Hughes, Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores, Incorporated, already have agreed to comply with the MacBride Principles as requested in the Funds’ proposals.

“The New York City Pension Funds helped create the MacBride Principles and continue to be committed to ensuring that workers in Northern Ireland are treated fairly and that all workers enjoy the same opportunities,” Thompson said.

The Funds have submitted shareholder proposals urging the companies, in which the New York City Pension Funds hold more than 4.4 million shares worth more than $182 million, to adopt the MacBride Principles. The Funds resubmitted proposals to: Baker Hughes of Houston, TX; BE Aerospace, Inc. of Wellington, FL; Claire’s Stores of Pembroke Pines, FL; Crane Company of Stamford, CT; Manpower of Milwaukee, WI; and, Yum Brands of Louisville, KY. They also submitted a proposal for the first time to Domino’s Pizza of Ann Arbor, MI, and Sanmina-SCI Corporation of San Jose, CA.

The proposals are sponsored by the New York City Employees’ Retirement System (NYCERS), Teachers’ Retirement System for the City of New York (TRS), New York City Police Pension Fund, New York City Fire Department Pension Fund and the New York City Board of Education Retirement System (BERS).

"The MacBride Principles are an important guideline for fair employment practices, which are the cornerstones for peace in Northern Ireland," explained Martha E. Stark, chair of the Board of Trustees of the New York City Employees and Teachers Retirement Systems and New York City Finance Commissioner. "Peace is key to prosperity for the Northern Ireland economy and success for the U.S. companies operating there."

"I am proud that NYCERS is taking this stand for equal opportunity,” said New York City Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum. “As one of the most diverse and tolerant cities in the world, New York City should be a national leader in the fight against discrimination. Companies that do not take sufficient steps to ensure a diverse workplace or protect their minority workers from discrimination do not deserve our workers’ pension funds."

TRS and the Fire Department Pension Fund also submitted a similar proposal for the first time to Wal-Mart Stores of Bentonville, AR. TRS and the Fire Fund own 3,055,825 shares in Wal-Mart worth more than $148 million.

The MacBride Principles were proposed in 1984 by late Irish statesman, Nobel Peace laureate, and founder of Amnesty International, Sean MacBride and several associates to serve as guidelines for corporations in Northern Ireland. The nine Principles call for:

• increasing the representation of individuals from underrepresented religious groups in the workforce, including managerial, supervisory, administrative, clerical and technical jobs;
  
  
• ensuring adequate security for the protection of minority employees in the workplace and while traveling to and from work;
  
  
• banning of provocative religious or political emblems in the workplace;
  
  
• publicly advertising job openings and recruitment efforts to attract applicants from underrepresented religious backgrounds;
  
  
• adhering to fair practices in layoff and termination procedures and not favoring certain religious groups;
  
  
• abolishing any job reservations, apprenticeship restrictions and differential employment criteria that discriminate on the basis of religion or ethnic origin;
  
  
• developing job training programs for current minority employees for skilled jobs, including the expansion of existing programs and the creation of new ones to train, upgrade and improve the skills of minority employees;
  
  
• establishing procedures to assess, identify and actively recruit minority employees with potential for further advancement; and,
  
  
• appointing senior management staff to oversee the company’s affirmative action efforts to set up timetables to carry out affirmative action principles.

In a December 2006 letter to the Comptroller’s Office, Sanmina-SCI Corporation, a leading Electronics Manufacturing Services provider, agreed “to make all lawful efforts to comply with the MacBride Principles consistent with the Fair Employment legislation in Northern Ireland and in so far as Sanmina-SCI is capable of doing so. In addition, Sanmina-SCI is prepared to complete the Institutional Shareholder Services Northern Ireland Service Fair Employment Survey as requested.”

Just this month, two other companies agreed to adopt the MacBride Principles. Baker Hughes, a worldwide oil and natural gas industry products and services provider, wrote to the Comptroller’s Office that its Board of Directors was “willing to formally adopt the MacBride Principles.” Wal-Mart Stores, in response to the Funds’ proposal, indicated that its Northern Ireland subsidiary “has implemented those lawful policies and practices that reflect the fair employment standards embodied in the MacBride Principles, in particular the fundamental requirement of religious non-discrimination.”

In November 2006, Thompson issued a report detailing the increased willingness on the part of corporations to enact fair employment standards and measures to improve work conditions, which have resulted in the workplace being the most integrated sector of society in Northern Ireland. The report also stated that since the MacBride Principles were formulated, 17 states and more than 40 municipalities, including New York City, have enacted laws tying their investment and/or procurement policies to adhere to the MacBride Principles.

To date, a total of 91 companies have agreed to adopt the MacBride Principles.

The trustees for the Pension Funds are:

NYCERS: New York City Finance Commissioner Martha E. Stark (Chair); New York City Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum; Borough Presidents Scott Stringer (Manhattan), Helen Marshall (Queens), Marty Markowitz (Brooklyn), Adolfo Carrion (Bronx), and James Molinaro (Staten Island); Lillian Roberts, Executive Director, District Council 37, AFSCME; Roger Toussaint, President Transport Workers Union Local 100; and, Carroll (Carl) Haynes, President, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 237.

TRS: New York City Finance Commissioner Martha E. Stark (Chair); Deputy Chancellor Kathleen Grimm, New York City Department of Education; and, Sandra March, Melvyn Aaronson and Mona Romain, all of the United Federation of Teachers.

Fire Department Pension Fund: Mayor Michael Bloomberg; New York City Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta (Chair); New York City Finance Commissioner Martha E. Stark; Stephen Cassidy, President, James Slevin, Vice President, Robert Straub, Treasurer, and John Kelly, Brooklyn Representative and Chair, Uniformed Firefighters Association of Greater New York; Peter Gorman, President and Captains’ Rep., Nicholas J. Visconti, Chiefs’ Rep., and Stephen J. Carbone, Lieutenants’ Rep., Uniformed Fire Officers Association; and, Joseph Gagliardi, Marine Engineers Association.

Police Pension Fund: Mayor Michael Bloomberg; New York City Finance Commissioner Martha E. Stark; New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly (Chair); Patrick Lynch, Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association; Michael Palladino, Detectives Endowment Association; Edwin Mullins, Sergeants Benevolent Association; Anthony Garvey, Lieutenants Benevolent Association; and, John Driscoll, Captains Endowment Association.

BERS: mayoral appointees Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, Alan Aviles, Philip Berry, David Chang, Tino Hernandez, Augusta Souza Kappner, Richard Menschel and Marita Regan; Borough President appointees Martine G. Guerrier (Brooklyn), Vivian Farmery (Manhattan), Michael Flowers (Queens), and Joan Correale (Staten Island); and employee members Thomas J. Malanga of the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 891, and Milagros Rodriguez of District Council 37, Local 372.

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