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NEW DEVELOPMENT, July, 2013


A

Health Care Workers, Patients Lead Fight for Divestment from Corrupt Private Health Insurance Industry

In the midst of a fierce debate on the national level around the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act, the Divestment Campaign for Health Care made its official debut. Its stated mission: “to expose how the health insurance industry puts the need for profit above the needs of patients and to escalate public support for total removal of the private health insurance companies from our nation’s health care.”

Leading advocacy organizations dedicated to single-payer health care are committed to pursuing a divestment campaign from private health insurance companies in order to transform the treatment of health care as a commodity into a basic human right for all people in the U.S.

“We are responsible for our investments, and particularly as health care workers and patients, we see the immorality of the private health insurance companies as they deny payment for care in order to create huge profits for shareholders. Those who stand for a just and equitable health care system must recognize the corrupting force of the private health insurance industry on our political process that costs tens of thousands of lives every year in addition to being a huge financial drain,” states Dr. Rob Stone, M.D.

Activists gathered inside and outside the pension fund giant TIAA-CREF’s shareholder meeting in New York City to call attention to their holdings in private health insurance. Members of TIAA-CREF were shocked to learn that private health insurance companies are considered part of their socially responsible investment portfolio.

Sandy Fox, psychiatric social worker from Pittsburgh, PA, received applause from the other attendees when she asked President and CEO Roger Ferguson, Jr. about these holdings:

“How do you justify including health insurance companies–CIGNA, Humana, Aetna, Coventry, and WellPoint– in CREF-Social Choice? Private health insurance companies add enormous cost but no value to health care. Furthermore, these companies violate 3 of the 5 social criteria for inclusion in the fund including:
  1. NOT “devoted to human rights”
  2. NOT “dedicated to producing high-quality and safe products” and
  3. NOT “managed in an exemplary and ethical manner.”
…We come to you today to demand that you immediately divest from these ruthless companies.”
Shortly before the meeting, the Campaign launched a petition to TIAA-CREF calling for them to move their money out of private health insurance receiving nearly 2000 signers in just a few days.
The Divestment Campaign for Health Care calls upon all people of conscience to shed light on the duplicitous practices that continue in the private health insurance industry.   As the Campaign’s mission statement says “We have nothing to lose. Health insurance companies have everything to lose as their stock prices drop and their influence wanes. Go to your religious organization, your union, your pension plan, your 401k advisor, your university endowment, your city council, your friends and neighbors, and tell them it’s time to get the health insurers out!”
 
 

B

Take Action around today's annual meeting of CREF

Here is info on several issues being raised today (Tuesday) at CREF's annual shareholder meeting. Some of these issues may motivate you to contact TIAA-CREF today or in the coming days, sign a relevant petition, or otherwise become involved in these efforts.

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Even if you are not in the CREF system, you can still make your voice heard
  1. For the greatest impact, call 800-842-2733 or 212-490-9000 and ask for CEO Roger Ferguson. You may have to leave a recorded message.  
  2. Also send him a personal message at RWFerguson@tiaa-cref.org and   send a copy to trustees@tiaa-cref.org .
  3. Let Mr. Ferguson know if you are in the TIAA-CREF system and (if you choose to) that you will ask your institution to withdraw its money from TIAA-CREF if it doesn't address your concerns.
  4. Please spread the effect by forwarding this email to several of your colleagues/friends, with your personal endorsement—and to any relevant listservs. 
 
"I am concerned that TIAA-CREF is a major investor in Nike and Coca-Cola, companies that are involved in ongoing human and labor rights abuses, as well as other irresponsible corporate behavior. I want TIAA-CREF to put these corporations on notice that if they do not clean up their bad practices, TIAA-CREF will find other companies in which to invest. TIAA-CREF needs to either get more aggressive with these companies to improve their practices or to divest from their stock.” http://www.teamsweat.org/     http://killercoke.org/

C

We are here to remind TIAA-CREF that their investments destroy Palestinian schools, make Palestinian families homeless, and deny Palestinians freedom of movement. These are not investments ‘for the greater good.’ Please divest from companies that profit from the Israeli occupation.
 
 

D

TIAA-CREF's 2012 annual Meeting: Thanks to additional proxies furnished by the Make TIAA-CREF Ethical Coalition, Corporate Campaign, Inc./Campaign to Stop Killer Coke brought 10 people into the meeting, eight of whom addressed Chair/CEO Roger Ferguson. Five of the speakers, Victor Borras, Ramon Hernandez, Louis Morales, Guillermo Nunez and Sandra Walker, are among current or former workers from Coca-Cola facilities in New York dubbed "The Coke 16" by the New York Daily News. They claim in lawsuits that Coca-Cola facilities are "cesspools of racial discrimination." (seewww.StopCokeDiscrimination.org). Others from the Campaign to Stop Killer Coke, Shirley Irons, Lew Friedman and Ray Rogers, also raised issues, including Coke's complicity in violence against union leaders in Colombia and Guatemala (seewww.KillerCoke.org). Although TIAA-CREF divested its Coke investments from its Social Choice Account in 2006 and has not allowed Coca-Cola back in, campaigners raised issues as to why TIAA-CREF still had hundreds of millions of dollars invested in Coke, deeming them irresponsible investments that were not "serving the greater good."

E

Campaign to Stop Construction Sweatshops Victory Over TIAA-CREF: Corporate Campaign, Inc. created the Campaign to Stop Construction Sweatshops (see www.StopConstructionSweatshops.org) concept/campaign to bring justice to workers in one of the most dangerous and exploitative industries in the country. The first Campaign to Stop Construction Sweatshops was on behalf of the 25,000-member NYC & Vicinity District Council of Carpenters over a building project in Queens, New York, in which TIAA-CREF was heavily invested. The developer and contractors partnering with TIAA-CREF were deemed guilty of operating a construction sweatshop in which workers were being paid substandard wages, received no health benefits and had no protections if they raised safety or other concerns on the job.

 

At first, efforts by the District Council of Carpenters to get the attention of TIAA-CREF about this injustice were completely ignored. However, once the Campaign kicked in and escalated, TIAA-CREF's attitude completely changed. This led to a disreputable subcontractor being removed from the project and TIAA-CREF completely disinvesting from the project. More importantly, TIAA-CREF decided to create a responsible contractor policy to avoid becoming the object of such a campaign again. (See articles regarding this campaign)