By Mary Owen
A resolution filed recently with Goldman Sachs by a group of Catholic nuns has business Internet sites buzzing.
The Benedictine Sisters of Mount Angel are one of four orders challenging the investment banking and securities firm of excessively compensating its executives at the expense of other employees.
The four orders have asked Goldman Sachs, headquartered in New York City, to review its remuneration policies after learning the company’s five most senior employees were collectively awarded $69.5 million in pay last year, as reported by British newspaper, The Guardian.
“Goldman Sachs laid off 1,700 people on the lower level and gave its executives millions of dollars in bonuses last year,” said Sister Marietta Schindler, spokeswoman for the Mount Angel order. “We are asking the company not to cover it up, be transparent. A lot of huge corporations give their CEOs huge bonuses, and what is happening to their workers?”
Joining the Mount Angel order in its quest are the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Boston, the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur and the Sister of St. Francis of Philadelphia. Also filing ahead of Goldman Sachs’ upcoming annual meeting is Nathan Cummings, a Jewish foundation in New York and associate member of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, an advocacy group operating out of New York.
Sister Judy Byron is with the Northwest Coalition for Responsible Investment, an ICCR member out of Seattle to which the Benedictine Sisters belong. She said Nathan Cummings will introduce the shareholder resolution at the May 6 stockholders’ meeting.
“We did have one conversation with Goldman Sachs on this issue, but we couldn’t come to agreement,” Byron said. “They feel they have to offer those salaries to attract and attain the best people in the industry.”
The resolution is the second attempt for the Benedictine Sisters to sway the banking giant.
The order filed a shareholder resolution in 2009 to review pay disparity at the firm. According to AtlanticWire.com, Maryknoll Sisters of St. Dominic also asked the company last year to disclose “more information about derivatives.”
“What we’re trying to do as shareholders is put our voice into this,” Byron said. “We want Goldman Sachs to be responsible to the common good, if we’re going to be investors. In filing a shareholder resolution, we get the company’s and shareholders’ attention, and the public is becoming more aware of the issue as well.”
Awareness is the catalyst for the Benedictine Sisters who joined NWCR, founded in 1994 as a program of the Intercommunity Peace and Justice Center, as a way to actively protest human trafficking, human rights, clean water issues, pollution and environmental responsibility, and other concerns.
“We started working with NWCRI to work on issues we feel we need to take a stand on,” Schindler said.
Each year, the sisters prioritize what issues they want to promote and send off letters or file shareholder resolutions asking companies in which they are invested to look at their policies on the issues and respond. Filing with NWCRI adds muscle to their inquiries, Schindler said.
“We are very concerned about excessive executive compensation in the corporations whose stock we hold because we believe that it is contributing to the growing gap between the rich and poor in our country,” Byron said.
Schindler agrees.
“We’re hoping to get a positive response from the company,” Schindler said of this latest resolution. “And that they will at least begin to talk to us.”
This year NWCRI filed 16 shareholder resolutions. The coalition has 17 members, faith-based communities and health entities throughout the Pacific Northwest who use their power as investors to shape a more just world.
“Members use their rights as shareholders to dialogue with companies about corporate policies and practices in order to promote peace, and economic and environmental justice,” cites information on the organization’s website.
Schindler said her order meets three times a year with other NWCRI members to decide which issues to address.
The resolution needs 6 percent of shareholders’ votes to be filed again next year, she added.
“We wrote our letter asking Goldman Sachs to look at their policies and respond to us,” Schindler said of this year’s attempt.
“They refused, saying it wasn’t shareholders information. We say they need to look at their policies and the ways they handle their business.”
