Holy Land Principles Keep Facing Cisco With The Existential Question That Can No Longer Be Ignored
WASHINGTON, Nov. 22, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Silicon Valley huge networking company Cisco will be challenged to demonstrate its commitment to transparency and fair employment in Cisco's operations in Israel/Palestine at its upcoming Annual Shareholder Meeting.
Cisco has significant operations in Palestine-Israel. Its own 2012 Corporate Sustainability Report admits that while Arabs make up 20 percent of the population in Israel they are less than 0.4 percent of the high tech industry workforce.
The Capitol Hill-based Holy Land Principles, Inc. has, for the second year, a Proposal/Resolution pending before Cisco's Annual Meeting on December 12 at Cisco's headquarters in San Jose.
The Holy Land Principles — an 8-point corporate code of conduct for American companies doing business in Palestine/Israel— are pro-Jewish, pro-Palestinian and pro-company. The Principles do not call for quotas, reverse discrimination, disinvestment/divestment or boycotts—only for fair employment by American companies. The Principles do not try to tell the Israelis or Palestinians what to do—they only call on Cisco and the other 543 American companies doing business there to sign the Holy Land Principles.
The Principles are based on the very effective Mac Bride Principles, which have powerfully advanced fair employment for Catholics in Northern Ireland. Please visit HolyLandPrinciples.org for more information. In particular, view the Animated Internet Video, which presents the issue in a very compelling way. It is the big existential question for American companies in the Holy Land that no longer can be ignored.
THE PROPOSAL/RESOLUTION
Fr. Sean McManus — President of the Holy Land Principles. Inc. and the Irish National Caucus—explained: "Our Cisco Proposal/Resolution calls on Cisco —at reasonable cost and omitting proprietary information—to disclose the breakdown of its workforce in the Holy Land using the nine job categories which are utilized in the U.S. Department of Labor's EEO -1 Report (Equal Employment Opportunity): 1.Officials and managers; 2. Professionals; 3. Technicians; 4. Sales; 5. Office and clerical; 6. Craft Workers (skilled); 7. Operatives (semiskilled); 8. Laborers (unskilled); 9. Service workers." (See text of Proposal/Resolution: http://www.holylandprinciples.org/cisco-shareholder-resolution-for-2016/).
Fr. McManus explained: "Cisco proclaims that it is proud of its fair employment in Israel/Palestine. Now we are providing them with a way to verify, following the adage of President Reagan, 'Trust but verify.' Surely, this is an eminently reasonable request to make of Cisco? How could Cisco reasonably refuse? This Resolution is also entirely consistent with the Reggie Principles, which Cisco says it endorses."
Fr. McManus concluded: "The Holy Land Principles are filling a vacuum that was crying out to be filled. Shareholder proposals/resolutions, as we've come to know them, sprouted in 1972 and, since then, they have become almost compulsory for the Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) community, for faith-based justice and peace communities and for all those concerned with Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) issues.
Yet fair employment by American companies in Israel/Palestine had never been raised — in the boardroom or anywhere else— until we launched the Holy Land Principles on International Human Rights Day, December 10, 2012. How extraordinary is that. Talk about the elephant in the (board) room! How could this, the most obvious of issues, have been so blatantly and flagrantly ignored? And now that the issue has been raised, who can argue against its legitimacy and moral correctness? Shareholder advocacy that ignores this issue brings discredit to all. It is the missing link in many faith-based or value-based Corporate Responsibility organizations. This moral and ethical vacuum had to be filled, and now that it is being filled, we confidently look to the good faith and decency of all Cisco investors."
Fr. Sean McManus
President
Holy Land Principles,Inc.
P.O. BOX 15128
Capitol Hill
Washington, DC 20003-0849
Tel. 202-488-0107
Fax. 202-488-7537
[email protected]
SOURCE Holy Land Principles
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