Speech of Joel Finkel at Caterpillar shareholder meeting

Speech of Joel Finkel
at Caterpillar shareholder meeting
Chicago, June 9 2010

Contact info:
Joel Finkel, 773-858-5368
Sydney Levy, 415-994-4854

Fellow Shareholders,

My name is Joel Finkel. I rise to advocate for Proposal 7 (see below), which has been submitted by an interfaith coalition of Catholic and Protestant denominations, along with Jewish Voice for Peace, of which I am a member

We who make this Proposal share with you the same financial interest, namely to maximize the return on our investments. Also, like all of you here today, each of us has a moral compass. I believe that each compass points in generally the same direction.

The question is not whether to place profits over people or people over profits. Our Proposal is consistent with both. A formal review of our company’s Global Corporate Standards will be good for our company.

Contrary to the arguments presented by the Board, our company does not have a policy of global responsibility that actually matters in the real world. Already, Hampshire College has decided to divest from Caterpillar. Last week, students at Evergreen State College voted overwhelmingly not only to divest from Caterpillar, but to declare their campus a Caterpillar-free zone. This divestment movement is growing on campuses and within many large churches.

It is growing for a very simple reason. Since 1967, when Israel captured Gaza, East Jerusalem, and the West Bank by force, it has destroyed some 24,000 Palestinian homes. This means that Israel has intentionally made hundreds of thousands of people homeless. It does this in order to steal their land and reserve it for exclusive Jewish use. For decades, its primary tool to accomplish this has been the D-9 bulldozer, which our company builds and services solely to help Israel cleanse Palestine of its non-Jewish inhabitants by destroying their homes.

The international divestment movement is the popular, grass-roots response. We cannot defeat it and we should not ignore it.

Last year, our CEO, Jim Owens, responded by suggesting that if people do not like the way Caterpillar operates, then they should not hold on to their stock—that they should divest. This invitation to divest from Caterpillar is a serious threat to our company. This year, in response to our very modest Proposal, our Board continues to ignore reality.

The sales and service of the D-9 bulldozer represents less than one-tenth of one-percent of our total sales and revenues. Yet, rather than sacrificing this minuscule revenue, our Board would rather sacrifice much more by encouraging people to divest from our company.

The Proposal at hand simply directs the Board to engage in a formal review of our Global Corporate Standards. If it is defeated, more and more individuals and institutions will realize that we are not a company that is concerned by the fact that we produce and service machines that are specifically designed and used to destroy peoples’ lives. They will, quite understandably, accept Mr. Owens’ forthright invitation to divest from our company. And not a single one of us will be able to blame them for doing so.

Let us do the right thing: the right thing for our company, the right thing for our balance sheets, and the right thing for the global community. Let us approve this Proposal and undertake a serious review of our Global Corporate Standards.

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PROPOSAL 7 — Review of Global Corporate Standards

Pursuant to Rule 14a-8(l)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Company will provide the name, address and number of Company securities held by the proponents of this stockholder proposal promptly upon receipt of a written or oral request.

This proposal requires an affirmative vote of the majority of shares present or represented at the Annual Meeting and entitled to vote to pass.

Supporting Statement of Proponents

Caterpillar’s current policy, the Worldwide Code of Conduct, contains no references to existing international human rights codes except for a corporate policy of non-discrimination, and aspirational goals to maintain employee health and safety. It also does not apply to company dealers whose activities can carry extensive reputational risks for Caterpillar. We believe company policies should reflect more robust, comprehensive understanding of human rights.

We recommend the review include policies designed to protect human rights-civil, political, social, environmental, cultural and economic-based on internationally recognized human rights standards: i.e.; the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Fourth Geneva Convention, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, core labor standards of the International Labor Organization, the International Covenant on Economic, Cultural and Social Rights, and United Nations resolutions and reports of UN special rapporteurs on countries where Caterpillar does business.

This review and report will assure shareholders that Caterpillar policies and practices reflect or conform to human rights conventions and guidelines and international law. While we are not recommending specific provisions of the above-named international conventions, we believe significant commercial advantages may accrue to our company by adopting a com- prehensive human rights policy based on the UN Human Rights Norms serving to enhance corporate reputation, improve employee recruitment and retention, improve community and stakeholder relations and reduce risk of adverse publicity, consumer boycotts, divestment campaigns and lawsuits.

Resolution Proposed by Stockholders

Whereas, Caterpillar, a global corporation, faces increasingly complex problems as the international social and cultural context within which Caterpillar operates changes.

Companies are faced with ethical and legal challenges arising from diverse cultures and political and economic contexts. Today, management must address issues that include human rights, workers’ right to organize, non-discrimination in the workplace, protection of environment and sustainable community development. Caterpillar itself does business in countries with human rights challenges including China, Colombia, Myanmar/Burma, Syria and Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.

We believe global companies must implement comprehensive codes of conduct, such as those found in “Principles for Global Corporate Responsibility: Bench Marks for Measuring Business Performance,” developed by an international group of religious investors. (April, 2003, www.ben-marks.org) Companies must formulate policies to reduce risk to reputation in the global marketplace. To address this situation, some companies, such as Hewlett-Packard and Coca-Cola, are even extending policies to include franchisees, licensees and agents that market, distribute or sell their products.

In August 2003, the United Nations Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights took historic action by adopting “Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises with Regard to Human Rights.”(www1.umn.edu/humanrts/links/NormsApril2003.html)

RESOLVED, the shareholders request the Board of Directors to review and amend, where applicable, Caterpillar’s policies related to human rights that guide international and U.S. operations, extending policies to include franchisees, licensees and agents that market, distribute or sell its products, to conform more fully with international human rights and humanitarian standards, and that a summary of this review be posted on Caterpillar’s website by October 2010.