Social Investing:Replies
Harris, Mark T.
Mark T. Harris Replies Amy Domini does not attempt to refute my critical description of Whole Foods's notorious anti-union history. In fact, we are told that Domini Social Investments has even...
...I put my stock there, as far as hope for a progressive future goes, rather than in an investment industry whose practices suggest it's too often more about feeling good than doing good...
...Nor does Domini ignore anti-trust violator Microsoft, its largest holding, according to Responsiblelnvesting.org . Notably, the software giant is also currently in Amnesty International's spotlight, for supplying the technology used by the Chinese government to censor and jail Internet users and dissidents...
...That's because popular social movements led by union organizers, civil rights activists, women's rights activists, and others worked to lift up banners of justice in society where previously they had not flown...
...But because McDonald's recycles, sells organic coffee, or adopts new antibiotic guidelines for meat suppliers doesn't change the more egregious reality that this is a business whose profits derive from peddling unhealthy food prepared by an exploited, cheap-wage labor force...
...That's commendable...
...Organically aware or not, these investors profit from the low hourly wages of Whole Foods employees...
...Almost any corporation today could be considered a paragon of enlightenment compared to the average corporation of a hundred years ago...
...Whole Foods has ignored the Domini firm's union concerns...
...Mark T. Harris Replies Amy Domini does not attempt to refute my critical description of Whole Foods's notorious anti-union history...
...But I wonder what it means in practical terms...
...McDonald's is lauded by Domini for its commitments to social responsibility, for example...
...But Domini does not ignore Whole Foods as an investment, continuing to promote the company as a responsible buy for socially minded investors...
...As for Milton Moskowitz, he composes Fortune magazine's "Best Companies" list for the Great Place to Work Institute...
...But I question the integrity of a self-described progressive business movement whose investment guidelines are so diluted that companies actively hostile to union organizing or otherwise on the wrong side of justice are routinely recommended to socially conscious investors...
...But I wonder, in his surveying, if there is even one question asking the Whole Foods employee earning $8 per hour if that's enough to live on...
...I also appreciate that Domini and other investors care about labor rights, which is more than you can say for many corporate investors...
...His complaint that I didn't mention the employee survey used in the nomination process avoids denying what I did say: in fact, companies nominate themselves for the Fortune list...
...Unfortunately Domini's letter typifies the watery rationales often used by "socially responsible" investment (SRI) funds to sell shares in companies with dubious track I 10 n DISSENT / Spring 2006 LETTERS records as corporate citizens...
...DISSENT / Spring 2006 n I I I...
...In fact, we are told that Domini Social Investments has even written to CEO John Mackey to express concerns it shares with the UFCW over anti-union activity at the company...
...The latter issue is not mentioned in Domini's list of "concerns" regarding Microsoft...
...I do not doubt that "shareholder activism" has its success stories...
Vol. 53 • April 2006 • No. 2
