The Gritty Reality: Feel It, Think It, Engage It “Consumer Choices and Corporate Responsibility” Rev. David Schilling Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility Anna Bradley National Jesuit Committee on Investment Responsibility

Faith-based Investor Coalition Founded in 1971, ICCR is a coalition of 300 religious investors from the Catholic, Jewish and Protestant communities in the United States with a combined investment total of over $100 billion. ICCR has over 50 associate members--socially responsible investment firms, public pension funds, union pension funds, foundations and universities. ICCR

The National Jesuit Committee on Investment Responsibility advocates for corporate behavior consistent with Catholic social teaching through dialogues with corporations, shareholder resolutions and proxy voting.

“Serving Christ’s mission today means paying special attention to its global context…we bear a common responsibility for the welfare of the entire world and its development in a sustainable and living-giving way” (GC 35: Decree 2: A Fire that Kindles Other Fires, n 20) “A more human business culture” (GC 35: Decree 3: Challenges to Our Mission Today, n 28) A Faith That Does Justice

“…there is also increasing awareness of the need for greater social responsibility on the part of business…there is nevertheless a growing conviction that business management cannot concern itself only with the interests of the proprietors, but must also assume responsibility for all the other stakeholders who contribute to the life of the business: the workers, the clients, the suppliers of various elements of production, the community of reference.” (Pope Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate, n 40, 2009)

Corporate Responsibility to Respect Human Rights ICCR members engage companies as shareholders to adopt comprehensive, transparent, verifiable human rights/worker rights policies for their operations and the operations of their business partners and suppliers.

A Case Study in Shareholder Advocacy—Extractive Industry Armed Conflict in Colombia An Oil Pipeline And The Jesuits

Worker Rights in Global Supply Chains ICCR members have engaged dozens of companies in many sectors including, agriculture, apparel, automotive, consumer products, electronics, footwear and toys on supply chain codes of conduct, including living wages, freedom of association, non- discrimination, forced and child labor.

Case Study of Shareholder Advocacy in the Electronics Sector When you buy an iPhone, what are you buying?  Foxconn Factory in Shenzhen, China  Apple, Inc, Cupertino, CA  Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior, Hong Kong  ICCR Foxconn.pdf Foxconn.pdf

Confronting Labor Abuse in the Apparel Sector Gap responded to trafficked children in a sub-contracting factory in northern India through a multi-stakeholder, multi- layered industry-wide approach in Worked with Indian Government, a local NGO, and an apparel supplier in Mewat to create a handwork center for embroidery for women.

Government of India’s Ministry for Rural Development; Gap Inc. 350 women have been trained and are earning income that enables them to put their children in schools. By helping build a skilled workforce and by addressing low employment, poverty and the other social ills that provide a breeding ground for human trafficking, it looks to eradicate the practice.

Women participating in Mewat Project who earn enough to sustain their children.

By creating employment and addressing poverty, the project directly reduces the breeding ground for trafficking.

Examples include multi-stakeholder campaigns coordinated by the Responsible Sourcing Network at As You Sow: Conflict minerals from the Congo that are used in electronic products Forced child labor in cotton fields of Uzbekistan Multi-stakeholder Initiatives

Multi-Party Collaborative Approach

Uzbek Government-Sponsored Forced Child Labor

What You Can Do At your college or university: a.Support or create an SRI Advisory Committee to get involved in shareholder advocacy b.Get your university to become a member of the Worker Rights Consortium and/or the Fair Labor Association to monitor apparel products sold on campuses

What You Can Do Become an informed consumer: a.Check websites of companies who make the products you purchase. Do they have human rights policies and procedures to protect workers in their supply chain? b.Go to: and learn how many slaves work for you. c.For information on Apple, go to: campaign/apple-campaign.pdf campaign/apple-campaign.pdf

Stay Informed: National Jesuit Committee on Investment Responsibility Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility ICCR’s Social Sustainability Resource Guide: Loyola University Chicago Shareholder Advocacy Committeewww.luc.edu/sacwww.luc.edu/sac Responsible Endowments Coalition What You Can Do

THANK YOU!! Rev. David Schilling, ICCR ICCR’s Social Sustainability Resource Guide: Join us on Facebook Anna Bradley, NJCIR