c. 1998 Religion News Service

UNDATED _ Three faith-based watchdogs of big business issued new global guidelines Friday (June 26) by which consumers and stockholders can measure the performance of corporations in sensitive areas such as human rights, labor rights and environmental standards.

The internationally forged 80-page”Principles for Global Corporate Responsibility: Bench Marks for Measuring Business Performance”was spearheaded by the New York-based Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), the Ecumenical Council for Corporate Responsibility of the United Kingdom (ECCR), and the Taskforce on the Churches and Corporate Responsibility of Canada (TCCR).

Proponents of the document contend it’s among the most sweeping of its kind.”This is a comprehensive set of principles that govern the totality of company issues,”including business’ relationship to the environment and indigenous communities, as well as child and forced labor concerns, said the ICCR’s David M. Schilling, a drafter of the document.”It comes out of the experience of the three groups that have been working on these issues since 1971,”he added.”We haven’t come to these lightly.” The document, which has been in development since 1994, is a compilation of”principles,”or business philosophies the groups believe are”fundamental to a responsible company’s actions”;”criteria,”or the particular policies and practices of a company to be compared to the principles; and”bench marks,”which are used as a frame of reference to evaluate the performance of a company on a given criteria.”This is not a document we ask companies to endorse, but rather is an accountability tool to evaluate companies, their codes of conduct and their implementation,”the document states.

Schilling said the document offers conscientious consumers and stockholders a way of holding companies accountable to higher standards than companies may wish to hold.”They are a helpful framework … a new opportunity that will hopefully lead to positive changes in corporate policy and practices,”he said.

The ICCR, an association of 275 U.S. Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Jewish institutional investors, represents a combined portfolio worth some $90 billion. It includes denominations, religious communities, pension funds, heath care corporations, dioceses, publishing companies and foundations.

Schilling said he did not know the combined worth of the portfolios represented by the ICCR’s sister organizations, but said they are”much smaller”in terms of investor dollars.

Each year, the ICCR flexes its $90 billion muscle by filing some 150 shareholder resolutions challenging the way corporations do business.

Schilling said shareholder resolutions are”a key method for religious investors to address companies on the social and environmental issues that they think are absolutely critical for companies to address.” The Global Principles, as the document is know for short, are being released at a time when many businesses are expressing increased interest in becoming more socially responsibility.”Companies are more receptive now to the intersection of business and human rights,”Schilling said.”… We have made tremendous progress within the past few years because many companies see the issues we are addressing as something … that is a legitimate part of how you do business in the global economy.” Doing business globally has presented new”challenges”to many U.S. firms as some are tempted to ravage ecosystems, plunder natural resources and exploit workers in nations with less restrictive laws than those in the United States, he said.”Too often that translates into finding low wage areas where there are less strident regulations on environmental issues and wage levels. The faith community’s experience says, `Here’s a word of caution: Stop and think about how the human beings in that situation are being treated.'” The document, which also will be published in French, German and Spanish, is divided primarily into three parts: The Wider Community section addresses issues affecting ecosystems, and national, local, and indigenous communities. The Corporate Business Community section discusses employee relations and working conditions, as well as women in the workforce, minority groups, persons with disabilities, child labor, and forced labor.

Also, 24 appendices spell out national and international codes and declarations on human rights, workers’ rights, advertising, and racial discrimination in employment, among other.

In April 1999, faith groups from around the world are expected to gather in Great Britain for an international conference designed to help religious bodies”establish partnerships and develop strategies for common corporate responsibility work,”said the Rev. Crispin M. White of the ECCR.”We are inviting many groups, especially in the developing world, to utilize the Global Principles in holding corporations accountable in their communities,”White said.”The conference will be a step in that direction.”

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