-72 firms adopt City pension-pushed reforms since 2002, including 17 in recent months-

View World Fuel resolution

New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. and the New York City Pension Funds today announced that another Fortune 1000 company – World Fuel Services Corporation - has agreed to revise its policies to specifically ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and/or gender identity.

The Miami, FL-based company is among 30 targeted by Thompson and the Funds in an effort to improve workplace equality. To date, 72 companies have agreed to adopt the changes, 17 of which agreed to do so in recent months. Of those 17, eight already barred discrimination based on sexual orientation and now agreed to include gender identity.

The Pension Funds are the: New York City Employees’ Retirement System (NYCERS), New York City Police Pension Fund, New York City Fire Department Pension Fund, Teachers' Retirement System of New York (TRS) and New York City Board of Education Retirement System.

“Equal treatment requires commitment to understanding that all workers should receive the same protections, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity,” Thompson said. “Every year, we encounter greater numbers of companies that adopt these measures because they realize that discrimination and bias have no place in the workplace.”

The Funds have more than 128,000 World Fuel shares valued at more than $40 million.
Most firms targeted this season are in the Fortune 500 and all are among the Fortune 1000. This is the third proxy season in which all new targeted companies received a proposal seeking a ban on discrimination based on both sexual orientation and gender identity.

The other companies targeted this season are: Pilgrims Pride Corp. of Pittsburg, TX; D.R. Horton of Forth Worth, TX; UGI Corp. of Valley Forge, PA; The Pantry Inc. of Sanford, NC; SYNNEX Corp. of Fremont, CA; Autoliv Inc. of Stockholm, Sweden; Eastman Chemical Corp. of Kingsport, TN; Allegheny Technologies, Inc. of Pittsburgh, PA; Leggett & Platt Inc. of Carthage, MO; FMC Technologies, Inc. of Houston, TX; Murphy Oil Corp. of El Dorado, AR; Anadarko Petroleum Corp. of The Woodlands, TX; Health Management Associates, Inc. of Naples, FL; Genworth Financial, Inc. of Richmond, VA; Integrys Energy Group, Inc. of Green Bay, WI; Hertz Global Holdings of Park Ridge, NJ; Community Health Systems, Inc. of Franklin, TN; American Financial Group of Cincinnati, OH; Western Refining Inc. of El Paso, TX; Western Union Company of Englewood, CO; Devon Energy of Oklahoma, OK; Chesapeake Energy Corp. of Oklahoma City, OK; ExxonMobil of Irving, TX; Timken Company of Canton, OH; HCC Insurance Holdings, Inc. of Houston, TX; Holly Corp. of Dallas, TX; Core-Mark Holding Company Inc. of South San Francisco, CA; Anixter International, Inc. of Glenview, IL; and Frontier Oil Corp. of Houston, TX.

Of those, the 16 that already agreed to adopt the City’s proposal are: UGI Corp., The Pantry, Inc., Autoliv, Inc., FMC Technologies, Genworth, Allegheny, Western Union, Health Management Associates, Integrys Energy Group, Community Health Systems; Timken Company; HCC Insurance Holdings, Inc.; Holly Corp.; Core-Mark Holding Company, Inc.; Anixter International, Inc.; and, Frontier Oil Corp.
The eight companies that previously had policies in place barring discrimination based on orientation (but have now agreed to include gender identity) are: Autoliv; Community Health Systems; Core-Mark; FMC Technologies; Genworth Financial; Integrys Energy Group; Western Union; and, World Fuel.

World Fuel’s agreement represents the latest development in Thompson’s ongoing efforts urging Fortune 1000 companies to combat bias and harassment in the workplace. This year represented the largest number of companies to which the Funds have submitted this proposal in a proxy season. As a result, 72 companies have amended their policies. Last season, 12 of 25 companies that were targeted agreed to change policies. (Frontier was initially targeted during the pervious season, and earlier this year notified the Comptroller that it is amending policies.)

This season, the City targeted ExxonMobil for the eighth time. Shareholder support for the proposal has increased in each subsequent year it has been filed: in May 2008, it was supported by 39.6 percent of shares voted; in 2007, it was supported by 37.7 percent of shares voted. Exxon Mobil’s annual meeting will be held May 27 in Dallas, Texas.

Besides Thompson, the New York City Pension Funds’ trustees (chairs in bold) are:
New York City Employees’ Retirement System: 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), James Molinaro (Staten Island), and Acting Borough President Earl D. Brown (Bronx); Lillian Roberts, Executive Director, District Council 37, AFSCME; Roger Toussaint, President Transport Workers Union Local 100; and, Gregory Floyd, President, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 237.

Teachers’ Retirement System: 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.

New York City 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; Edward D. Mullins, Sergeants Benevolent Association; Thomas Sullivan, Lieutenants Benevolent Association; and, Roy T. Richter, Captains Endowment Association.

New York City 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; John Dunne, Captains’ Rep.; John J. McDonnell , Chiefs’ Rep., and James J. McGowan, Lieutenants’ Rep., Uniformed Fire Officers Association; and, Joseph Gagliardi, Marine Engineers Association.

Board of Education Retirement System: mayoral appointees Schools Chancellor Joel Klein (Designee, Kathleen Grimm, serves as co-chair), Alan Aviles, Philip Berry, David Chang, Tino Hernandez, Edison O. Jackson, Richard Menschel and Marita Regan; Patrick Sullivan (Manhattan), Wendy Gilgeous (Brooklyn), Joan Correale (Staten Island); and Dmytro Fedkowskyj (Queens) ; and employee members Joseph D'Amico of the IUOE Local 891 and Milagros Rodriguez of District Council 37, Local 372 (serves as co-chair).

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