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March 07, 2001
Shareholder Resolution Vote Nudges Emerson on Equality
Support from shareholders at annual meeting pushes electronic manufacturer to reconsider
implementing a sexual orientation non-discrimination policy.
SocialFunds.com --
A shareholder resolution urging Emerson Electric (ticker: EMR) to adopt a non-discrimination policy
regarding sexual orientation received 12.8 percent of the vote at the company's recent annual
meeting. The resolution was filed by the Pride Foundation, a lesbian, gay, transgendered and
bisexual community foundation, and co-filed by Domini Social Investments. This was the first year
for the resolution to be submitted.
 Janice Van Cleve, a member of Pride's Investment
Committee, represented the foundation at Emerson's meeting. She said this high level of support
"clearly demonstrates that nondiscrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is an issue whose
time has come."
Washington-based Pride filed the resolution after a year of unsuccessful
negotiations with company management. Emerson said during the talks that its training programs
discourage all types of discrimination. However, the company did not include sexual orientation in
its written non-discrimination policies because the law does not require it.
When asked
about the company's current position, Emerson spokesperson Mark Polzin said "Emerson has not
changed its policy, but it is maintaining an open dialogue with Pride." Pride says the talks
should resume within a few months.
Emerson Electric is a global manufacturer with
interests in industrial automation, process control, heating, ventilating and air conditioning,
electronics and telecommunications, and appliances and tools. Based in St. Louis, it operates in
more than 150 countries and employs over 123,000 people.
A large number of Fortune 500
companies have been proactive in putting non-discrimination policies regarding sexual orientation
in writing. The Gay Financial Network (GFN), an Internet finance site geared toward the gay
community, publishes a list of the fifty most powerful, gay-friendly companies. Prerequisites to
inclusion on the list are clear non-discrimination policies, and the extension of benefits to
same-sex domestic partners. GFN's list includes companies such as IBM, Bank of America, Chevron,
and Nike.
That so many large, successful companies have adopted comprehensive
non-discrimination policies should be instructive to Emerson's management. Investors that voted
for the resolution have to be wondering why the firm is taking a position that so many others have
chosen to abandon.
http://www.emersonelectric.com
http://www.domini.com
http://www.pridefoundation.org
http://www.gfn.com
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