Mitt Romney´s Labor Mole and more

Mitt Romney’s labor adviser, Peter Schaumber, has gone too far. The inspector general of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) found that improper, unethical disclosures of privileged information to Schaumber were used to benefit his consulting practice and attack the NLRB—the federal agency tasked with protecting workers’ rights.¹

Rep. Elijah Cummings, the ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, says the concerns raised in the inspector general’s report are “very serious and involve potential criminal implications.”²

How candidate Romney responds to these findings is a test of his character. Will Romney embrace Washington insiders who trade on confidential and even attorney-client privileged information? Or will he demand they abide by the same ethical standards the rest of us—the 99%—pride ourselves on and expect others to live up to?

Please join the AFL-CIO in demanding that candidate Romney renounce Peter Schaumber’s involvement with these ethical breaches and fire him immediately.

According to the report of the NLRB’s Office of the Inspector General and news reports, here’s what we know about Romney adviser Peter Schaumber:

• He was named to the NLRB by President George W. Bush and served until Aug. 27, 2010. After he left the agency, Schaumber marketed himself as a “consultant” with “[NLRB] agency connections.” During that time, he did press work to attack the NLRB and the modest workplace protections workers have.²
   
• Schaumber benefited from the improper and unethical receipt of confidential, inside information to support his anti-worker consulting business and his press work aimed at giving the NLRB a bad name. The inappropriate disclosures were made to Schaumber from his former staffer, Terence Flynn—who remained at the NLRB and became a board member.¹
• Flynn acted as Schaumber’s mole inside the agency, feeding him internal, confidential, attorney-client privileged information. According to the IG report, this broke government ethics rules. Flynn needs to resign immediately, and Romney needs to hold Schaumber accountable.^1,3

Join the AFL-CIO in calling on candidate Romney to immediately dismiss Schaumber from his campaign.

This funneling of privileged information is an outrageous example of how the 1% gets things done at the 99%’s expense. If candidate Romney allows Peter Schaumber to remain as an adviser, it will speak volumes about the value he places on ethics in government officials.

Merely firing Schaumber isn’t enough: Candidate Romney needs to make it clear his campaign will not tolerate those who benefit from unethical conduct.

Thank you for all the work you do.

In Solidarity,

Manny Herrmann
Online Mobilization Coordinator, AFL-CIO

1    http://democrats.edworkforce.house.gov/sites/democrats.edworkforce.house.gov/
files/documents/112/pdf/letters/DOCFlynnTransmittal.PDF
2    http://www.salon.com/2012/03/27/team_romneys_alleged_labor_mole/singleton/
3    http://www.aflcio.org/Press-Room/Press-Releases/Statement-by-AFL-CIO-President-
Richard-Trumka-On-Ethical-Violations-by-NLRB-Member-Terence-Flynn

---

Download the New York City Event Guide at greenfestivals.org » RSVP to the New York City Green Festival on Facebook » Your renewal helps us produce more Green Festivals »

Dear Mark RegroMontiero,

Save the date! The Green Festival is coming to New York City for the first time ever over Earth Day Weekend, April 21 - 22.

Get in for FREE when you RENEW with Green America today! Renewing is simple.

• Make a secure tax-deductible donation to Green America.
• Bring a print-out your renewal receipt to the Festival
• Step right up to the "members only" box office, skip all the lines, and get into the festival for FREE!

Festivities start Saturday at 10AM and Sunday at 11AM at the Javits Center (map). As a member, you can bypass the lines and walk right up to the members-only booth to get in absolutely FREE.

Visionary main-stage speakers will include Frances Moore Lappe, Van Jones, Katrina vanden Heuvel, Helen Caldicott, Jeffrey Smith, John Perkins, Amy Goodman, Russell Simmons, and more.

Special stages and pavilions include activities like:

• Green cooking demos (green smoothies, vegan hors d'oerves, macrobiotic sushi, and more),
• Green economy jobs & opportunities fair,
• Fun and games in the Green Kids' Zone,
• Green fashion shows, urban gardening, and banking for the 99%,
• Green America's Elizabeth O'Connell and our Fair Trade stage,
• Green America's Desiree Reese and our Green Business stage, and more.

You'll also find the best green shopping for Mother's Day, Father's Day, and graduations; live music; organic food and drink; and sustainable home and garden demos, and much more. Check out the Green Festival Web site for more specifics, and be sure to drop by the Green America booth. We can hardly wait to meet you in person.

Renew your membership with us today! You'll get in free at Green Festival, and you'll continue to receive all of our green-living resources, the National Green Pages™, our Green American magazine, and our Guide to Socially Responsible Investing.

See you over Earth Day weekend, April 21 and 22,

Alisa Gravitz,
Executive Director,
Green America

P.S. Tell your Midwest friends to save the date: Our Chicago Green Festival is coming soon, May 5 and 6.

Last year it sold out. This year it’s even bigger.

What is this very popular event?

It’s “Stand Up for Main Street: An All-Star Comedy Benefit for Public Citizen”!

Come celebrate Public Citizen with big-time comedians like Ray Romano, Marc Maron, Dana Gould, Wendy Liebman, Rick Overton, Erik Rivera and Morgan Murphy.

How did Public Citizen get into the stand-up comedy business?

It’s not just because I wanted a venue to try out some new one-liners.

Public Citizen is lucky enough to have a board member, Steve Skrovan, who is a successful writer and producer in Hollywood helping to shine a comic spotlight on what Public Citizen does.

And what Public Citizen — that’s me, and you, and hundreds of thousands of our fellow citizens — does is stand up for America’s consumers, families and working people.

We stand up for Main Street.

Not Wall Street and the Frankensteins of finance.

Not K Street and its legions of lobbyists.

“Stand Up for Main Street” is on April 29, 2012, at the Writers Guild Theater in Beverly Hills, a quaint little borough tucked away in the outskirts of Los Angeles, California, which I have on good authority is known for its swimmin’ pools and movie stars.

April 29 is just one month from today. It will be here before you know it. Get all the details about “Stand Up for Main Street” and order your tickets today, before they sell out.

www.citizen.org/stand-up-for-main-street

Don’t miss out on all the fun. Reserve your seats now!

Sincerely, Robert Weissman President, Public Citizen

At this time of year, Cadbury Creme Eggs are some of the most visible -- and popular -- chocolates sold as treats for children's Easter baskets.
What you might not know is that in the US Cadbury products are Hershey products. In 1988, the Hershey company purchased Cadbury's US business, including the exclusive rights to sell well-known brands like York Peppermint Patties, Cadbury Chocolate Bunnies, and Cadbury Eggs.
And while Cadbury has demonstrated its commitment to ending forced child labor in the cocoa supply chain by selling Fair Trade chocolate through its operations overseas, the US arm, controlled by Hershey, falls short. Chocolate lovers in the UK, Ireland, Japan, South Africa, and Australia can purchase Cadbury chocolates for Easter that include fairly traded cocoa, why shouldn't the same be true for chocolate lovers in the US?
Tell Hershey to bring Fair Trade Cadbury products to the US »
We know you've sent repeated messages to Hershey demanding better -- persistence pays! Here's why you should take this action today: This time we're copying our message to Cadbury executives as well, reminding them that their good name suffers in the US from Hershey's business practices. Let's thank Cadbury for doing a good job in other countries, and get them on board to push for change in this country.
Recently, Hershey committed to improve the supply chain for its "Bliss" line of chocolate. Let's push them to the next level with its Cadbury products as well. We won't stop until we've achieved meaningful change across all Hershey's products.

Thanks for all you do,

Alisa Gravitz,
Executive Director,
Green America

Ladies and Gentleman! We present to you: the Fossil Fools!

These distinguished members of society are best known for polluting our communities and the planet — and making a pretty penny while they’re at it!

Unfortunately, these titans of industry don’t always get the recognition they so richly deserve. We want to change that. That’s why we decided to give them their own holiday: April 1st is officially Fossil Fools Day!

And to embrace their spirit of competition and meritocracy, we’re holding a contest to determine who is the biggest Fossil Fool of them all.

Who deserves the title of Top Fossil Fool of the 1%? Voting ends Saturday! http://FossilFoolsDay.com

On April 1st we will announce the winners… and then the Fossil Fools Day pranks begin!

Throughout April we will continue to show our “appreciation” by joining with organizers trained in the 99% Spring to take direct action against the Fossil Fools Day winners. We’ll build a movement of people ready to take action and join the fight to stop massive giveaways to Big Oil and King Coal.

Help choose the biggest Fossil Fool of the 1%, and decide the target for our collective action this April.

Let’s give these Fossil Fools the recognition they deserve!

Jeff Mann
Online Director

Dear Mark ,

Wouldn’t it be great if the answer to every decision could be “all of the above?” It would make life easier. But I'd be a bad father to my newborn son if I told him there's no difference between right and wrong, good and bad -- if I taught him the moral ambivalence of “all of the above.”

When it comes to protecting the environment, President Obama is refusing to choose. He’s now touting “all of the above” as his energy answer, all the while staying appallingly silent on the accelerating climate crisis we face.

It’s a cop-out -- an excuse to continue to embrace dirty, dangerous energy sources, including climate-wrecking tar sands oil and dangerous, outdated nuclear reactors, while purporting to be a leader.

Friends of the Earth has been fighting for the right energy choices since our founding 42 years ago, not because it’s easy, but because it’s necessary. Make a contribution of just $5 or more today and help strengthen our campaigns to stop harmful choices like dirty tar sands oil and dangerous nuclear reactors.

We face steep challenges, which is why we cannot sit back and accept pandering to the purveyors of a “drill baby drill” mentality.

When President Obama stood in front of pipes intended to build the Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline and promised to fast-track the southern portion to the Gulf Coast, we stood with David Daniel, a Texas landowner and father who is organizing to stop the pipeline. Our Stand with David photo petition is showing the resilient grassroots opposition to Keystone XL and its threats to our climate, air and water.

Your pressure has stopped this pipeline and the dirty tar sands oil it would carry for more than two years. Your support will enable us to continue fighting every step of the way, from the streets to the media to the courts.

Will you pitch in just $5 or more to Friends of the Earth and help give us the strength we need to keep up the pressure on the president?

The president’s “all of the above” energy policy also means he’s embraced more nuclear reactors. After the meltdown and radioactive crisis in Japan -- a disaster that has left an area almost twice the size of Manhattan contaminated with radiation -- the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is acting as if safety upgrades are not urgent, and even approved the first new reactors in 30 years.

We’re working in the courts to block the new reactor design, and we're not stopping there:

• We're working to prevent a potential crisis in California, where nuclear reactors at San Onofre, situated within fifty miles of millions of people, are shut down because of serious malfunctions. A nuclear engineer's analysis we released Tuesday was covered by the Associated Press and Los Angeles Times -- and compelled federal regulators to intervene.
• We're on the ground in Iowa campaigning to stop legislation that would allow a utility company to raise consumers' electric rates to pay for new reactors, guaranteeing windfall profits while passing the risks on to Iowans.

And there's so much more to be done. Will you make a contribution of just $5 or more right now and help strengthen our work for the right energy choices -- choices for clean, safe 21st century energy that will protect our health and the climate?

Where Does Your Tuna Fish Sandwich Come From?     One of the world’s most popular fish makes an incredible journey from sea to plate. View our infographic to learn more about why we need to better manage tropical tunas. Where Have All the Farms Gone?     During the past 50 years, animal agriculture in the U.S. has gone through a seismic shift. Family farms no longer dot the landscape, and concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) have replaced them. Read our new blog to learn about the environmental concerns associated with these industrial farms.

Pew Environment Group advocacyemail@pewtrusts.org

This week marks the release of the latest feature film from acclaimed director Robert Greenwald and our friends at Brave New Foundation: Koch Brothers Exposed.

Brave New Foundation is making the film available immediately on DVD with an Action Guide so that you can watch with family and friends and then do something to make a difference.

Get the DVD now, for only $20 (including shipping and handling), and $5 of each DVD purchased will go to support the work of People For the American Way.

The film features expert interviews, investigative exposés and extras about what the billionaire Koch brothers are doing to our democracy.

Watch the preview trailer here.

After you sign up to receive the DVD, please register to host a screening at your home, library, church or local community center. There is a downloadable Action Guide for you to use in preparing your discussion of the film and helping your audience take effective action on the issues you care about.

The Koch brothers’ elitist agenda includes aggressive union busting and promoting countless policies that benefit the 1% at the expense of the 99%. Charles Koch has been reported as saying, “I just want my fair share, and that’s all of it.”

Get the DVD now, and find out how the Koch brothers were behind the Tea Party effort to resegregate schools in North Carolina and the Wisconsin Republicans’ attack on working families. Find out about their work to subvert democracy by buying politicians, and to get the government to look the other way on corporate polluters that are making real people fatally sick with their reckless abuse of the environment. And remember, $5 from each DVD sold goes to support PFAW.

Then, sign up to organize a screening, or check back at the Screening page to find and attend one near you. After watching, we encourage you to discuss the film with your family and friends then look through the Action Guide to decide on which actions you can agree to do.

With your help we can start to reverse the damage that has been done.

Thank you,

Ben Betz, Online Strategy Manager

P.S. Join Koch Brothers Exposed on Facebook.

Worker ownership-the AFL and Mondragon

Worker Ownership for the 21st Century?

Wednesday, 28 March 2012 13:41 By Laura Flanders, The Nation | Op-Ed

• 
  

USW President Leo Gerard and USW members protest trade deals, October 4, 2011. (Photo: aflcio) It may not be the revolution’s dawn, but it’s certainly a glint in the darkness. On Monday, this country’s largest industrial labor union teamed up with the world’s largest worker-cooperative to present a plan that would put people to work in labor-driven enterprises that build worker power and communities, too.
Titled “Sustainable Jobs, Sustainable Communities: The Union Co-op Model,” the organizational proposal released at a press conference on March 26 in Pittsburgh, draws on the fifty-five year experience of the Basque-based Mondragon worker cooperatives. To quote the document:
“In contrast to a Machiavellian economic system in which the ends justify any means, the union co-op model embraces the idea that both the ends and means are equally important, meaning that treating workers well and with dignity and sustaining communities are just as important as business growth and profitability.”
It might not sound like big news to members of their local food coop but it’s revolutionary stuff in the context of industrial production. The United Steelworkers represents some 1.2 million members; the average steel plant requires millions of dollars of investment, and there’s history here when it comes to worker ownership—some of it painful.
Thirty-five years ago, when local steelworkers and a statewide religious coalition put forward a plan to transfer the Youngstown Sheet and Tube steel mill to worker and community control, the USW’s attitude was very different. As recounted by Gar Alperovitz in his (recently updated) "America Beyond Capitalism:"
....
for the entire article see truthout.org

Public Citizen´s WTO Consumer Rights Pledge etc

And the issues keep right on coming.  The corporate executives and their supporters are everywhere, like fleas and ticks, only really big....

 

Sign the Consumer Rights Pledge

Shine the spotlight on the WTO's attack on consumer rights

In a set of decisions this fall, the World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled against U.S.country-of-origin labels on meat, dolphin-safe labels on tuna, and the ban on sweet-flavored cigarettes designed to combat youth smoking. [Learn more]

These are the policies we rely on to allow us to protect children’s health and make informed decisions as consumers. Under current rules, the U.S. will have to water down or eliminate these policies, or face trade sanctions.

Take the pledge and stand up to the WTO's attack on our consumer rights.

Tell your friends and family to sign the pledge as well. The more names that sign on, the better chance we'll have of gaining the attention of the public, media, President Obama and Congress. We'll do our part to shine the spotlight on your terrific work. This is only the beginning of all of our efforts. 

Sign the Consumer Rights Pledge:

In a matter of months, the World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled against three popular U.S. consumer policies: our country-of-origin labels on meat; dolphin-safe tuna labels; and a ban on sweet-flavored cigarettes that were marketed to lure teens to start smoking. Previously, we’ve seen this global commerce agency facilitate offshoring of jobs to low-wage countries and rule against a series of health and environmental laws around the world. Now the WTO has even ruled against consumers’ basic right to know where products come from and how they are produced. Enough is enough! When the WTO rules against a policy, countries are pressured to water down or eliminate their laws. Our government must not cave in and follow a WTO order to gut our laws, if necessary by eliminating any funding to make a WTO-ordered roll back possible. I pledge NOT to support trade deals that include similar anti-consumer provisions. I also pledge to alert my community and my elected representatives to the WTO attacks on our consumer policies.

TELL THE EPA: DON'T LET BIG POLLUTERS BULLY YOU ON GREENHOUSE GASES!

The Obama administration has proposed new standards that – for the first time ever – would limit the industrial carbon pollution from power plants that contributes to global warming.

But the pressure from Big Coal and other Big Polluters will be immense (and well funded!). They're already spending millions on TV ads, lobbyists, frivolous lawsuits and misinformation campaigns.

The EPA needs to know that Americans want strong industrial carbon pollution standards. Please fill out the fields below to submit your public comment to the EPA in support of these new standards.

http://www.saveourenvironment.org/

Dear Mark,

Stand up for our clean energy and safer climate future.

Moments ago, the EPA proposed historic national clean air standards limiting the carbon pollution from new coal and gas-fired power plants.

Take action today to support this historic rule and help end dirty energy as we know it.

Fossil fuel burning power plants are the single largest source of dangerous carbon pollution in the U.S. and one of the largest in the world.

Once finalized, these standards will establish the first nationwide limits on climate-destabilizing pollution from new power plants and help build the efficient, clean power sector of the future.

This will be a huge fight. Climate deniers and the Dirty Air Lobby started attacking these "New Source Performance Standards" weeks ago, before they were even proposed. We need your help to stand strong for our clean energy and a safer climate future!

Thank you for all of your activism & support,

Sam Parry
Director, Online Membership & Activism 

EDF.org

Dear Mark,

Another classic tale of corporate greed is unfolding in Ohio, and we need your help to put a stop to it.

In 2008, when Cooper Tire & Rubber Company was losing money, workers at its Findlay, Ohio, plant gave up $31 million in pay and benefits to help the company stay afloat.

Thanks to the workers' sacrifices and productivity, Cooper has made more than $300 million in profits since 2009. Cooper paid its executives millions of dollars in bonuses and bought a new corporate jet. What did its employees get? Locked out on Thanksgiving weekend.

Despite soaring profits, Cooper pushed a new contract on its employees with higher healthcare premiums and undisclosed wage terms. Do you think CEOs would accept a contract if they didn't know if they were getting a raise or a pay cut? Not a chance.

Still, Cooper's employees were more than willing to keep working through negotiations to reach a fair deal after their contract expired last fall. But Cooper refused to budge – leaving 1,050 workers out in the cold since November 28.

The workers in Findlay, Ohio, are counting on you! Email Cooper Tire NOW!

Cooper can easily afford to set things straight and still turn a profit. Cooper CEO Roy Armes received $4.7 million in compensation in 2010.¹ And the company has purchased a plant in Serbia for $17.3 million!²

Cooper wants to cry broke, but greed – not need – is driving this lockout. As Chico Ramirez, who's logged 25 years with the company, explains, "The thing that bothers us is that we gave them concessions to help them get back on their feet, and they are paying out bonuses instead of paying back the backbone of the company."

Around the country, people are fighting back against corporate greed and standing up for the 99%. Will you stand up and fight for Cooper's workers too?

action@americanrightsatwork.org

Dear Mark,

The right wing is on a roll. They're trying to eliminate collective bargaining for workers by spreading deceptive "right-to-work" policies wherever they can.

Indiana has fallen – it's now the 23rd state with a right-to-work law. And corporate-backed politicians and shady interest groups are one step closer to passing these destructive measures in Minnesota and New Hampshire.

We have to block the right wing's momentum. Help us with an emergency donation to stop right to work.

This month, the New Hampshire House voted 198–139 to approve a right-to-work bill that would limit workers' ability to have a voice on the job. And in Minnesota, a Senate committee voted 7–6 to put a right-to-work constitutional amendment on the ballot. It's clear that these politicians are hell-bent on passing right to work, which would drive down wages, benefits, and job standards for all of us.¹

Unless we can stop legislative initiatives like these, more attacks on workers and collective bargaining rights could be headed to your state next. This is our moment to strike back. We've launched an emergency public education campaign to fight "right-to-work."

We're ready to pull out all the stops by:

• Dominating the debate on TV, blogs, and in newspapers to debunk blatant lies and propaganda from the Chamber of Commerce, ALEC, and other front groups funded by the billionaire Koch brothers;
• Engaging our broad coalition of allies and partners with key resources and information to escalate our pushback campaign and amplify the voices of America's workers;
• Investing in local efforts and equipping campaigns on the ground with the resources they need to win.

We don't have deep pockets like CEOs and corporate front groups – and we need more resources to tackle them head on.

Thanks so much for all you do for workers' rights.

Hilary, Kim, Susan, Liz, Zoe, Michael, and the American Rights at Work team
www.AmericanRightsatWork.org

I am writing you today in vehement opposition to the toxic air bill offered by Senator James Inhofe, S.J. Res 37.

This bill would use the obscure Congressional Review Act to block EPA's new emission standards for hazardous mercury and other toxic air pollution from coal- and oil-fired power plants. If enacted, this bill would also forever prohibit the EPA from adopting substantially similar clean air standards in the future.

These standards, which the 1990 Clean Air Act specifically authorizes, have been in the works for more than two decades. They will prevent up to 11,000 premature deaths every year and protect our kids from dangerous exposure to toxic mercury pollution, which can cause brain damage in infants and young children.

They will also save the American economy tens of billions of dollars in avoided health costs while putting between 85,000 and 117,000 Americans to work installing pollution control technologies between now and 2015.

Last year, more than 800,000 Americans submitted public comments in support of this rule. But now, a few of America's largest corporate utilities have launched an aggressive campaign to block these standards. And Sen. Inhofe's toxic air bill would do just that.

Please stand up for the health and safety of our kids and communities and reject the Inhofe bill.

EDF.org

Tell the SEC: Make Corporations Disclose Political Spending

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has the authority to pull back the curtain on the secret corporate money that the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling has unleashed into our elections.

As the federal agency with the job of protecting investors from corporate abuse, the SEC is well within its authority to require that all publicly traded corporations disclose how they're spending money in an attempt to tilt elections.
But the SEC isn't going to act without pressure.
Tell the SEC to require corporations to disclose how they spend their money in politics.

https://secure.pfaw.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=OnScreenThanks&id=193

Dear Mark ,

Did you see President Trumka’s message from this weekend warning about the so-called JOBS Act? We just learned that a Senate vote on this cynically-named deregulation bill has been scheduled for Tuesday. Please take action now.

The so-called “JOBS” Act would weaken the ability of the Securities and Exchange Commission to regulate our capital markets. It would let companies sell stock to the public without providing three years of audited financial statements, without having adequate internal controls and without complying with key corporate governance reforms in the recently passed Dodd-Frank Act.

The legislation would also undo many parts of the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley law, which was passed in response to the Enron and WorldCom scandals.

Working people must smack down attempts by corporations and greedy CEOs to lobby for even small pieces of deregulation. The “JOBS” Act is a huge deregulation bill that’s being rushed through Congress with little public debate.

<peoplepower@aflcio.org>

Green America campaigns-Am Rights at Work

NGOs are the avante garde trying to budge the corporate executives and their behemoths....

Go NGOs like Green America and American Rights at Work... and don´t forget that there is a National Co-op Conference in Boston this June....see the US Fed of Worker Co-ops for info...

United Continental Hldgs Inc, Amr Corporation, Delta Air Lines, Inc., Airtran Holdings, Inc., Southwest Airlines Co.

Join Green America in asking U.S. airlines to recycle

As concerned consumers, we believe that it is important for us to know that the airline companies with which we travel help reduce consumer waste by implementing recycling programs. Overall, airlines have the capacity to recycle nearly 500 million more pounds of waste each year, including 250 million pounds of in-flight waste. Additionally, nearly 75% of in-flight generated waste is recyclable; however only about 20% of that waste actually is recycled.

We are joining Green America in addressing this letter to U.S. airline companies, including US Airways, Continental Airlines, United Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Airlines, Southwest Airlines and Airtran, asking them to improve their recycling tactics and policies.

Ms. JoAnn DeGrande
Director, Investor Relations
Starbucks Coffee Company
2401 Utah Ave S
M/S S-SR1
Seattle, WA 98134-1436
Dear Ms. DeGrande,
As concerned citizens, consumers and investors, we value the way that companies interact with the planet, people and natural resources. In particular, we are concerned about Starbucks’ corporate environmental sustainability initiatives.
Starbucks uses over four billion cups for coffee beverages each year, and we think it is very important for your company to consider the environmental implications of beverage container waste and use of other resources. To better evaluate Starbucks' business practices in an environmentally conscious and sustainable manner, we recommend the creation of a board committee on sustainability as an initial step to focus corporate management on this issue. Such a committee would engage in an ongoing, in-depth review of corporate policies that impact our environment and natural resources, such as waste creation and disposal, limitations on natural resources, energy use and climate change. The committee would also set goals for improving the company’s practices.
We strongly urge you to consider this request and develop a board committee on sustainability. Your investors would not want to see a decline in Starbucks’ revenues and its share price as a result of the company’s failure to adopt sustainability measures that would save expenses, secure its brand position and make it a leader in the industry.  As consumers, we will be watching for changes in Starbucks cafes that demonstrate a strong commitment to environmental sustainability.
We will make it a priority to patronize those establishments with a demonstrated commitment to best practices for waste management and recycling. Your shareholders have filed a 2012 resolution calling for the creation of a board-level sustainability committee, and we will encourage shareholders to support the resolution in addition to this letter from consumers and investors.

Mr. Bryan W. Hurley
VP, Investor Relations
Monsanto Company
800 N. Lindbergh Boulevard
St. Louis, MO 6316

Dear Mr. Hurley,

As consumers and investors, we oppose the production and promotion of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) until independent research confirms their safe usage. A growing body of research suggests that the chemical and genetic contamination GMOs cause can pose dangerous risks to human and animal health and to the environment. Scientists do not fully understand all the consequences of altering genes, but we do know that once GMOs are released into the environment, we cannot control where they ultimately spread or easily undo their impacts on the environment. We add our voices to the growing movement of people who desire a thorough evaluation of the potentially serious risks to human health and the environment presented by the widespread release of GMOs.

Evidence from around the world suggests that the use of genetically modified (GM) seeds may:

• Promote the evolution of “super-pests” and “super-weeds” that resist the herbicide used on GM plants;
• Result in increased, not decreased, use of pesticides;
• Result in smaller harvests, not larger harvests, as advertised;
• Threaten human and animal health;
• Endanger global ecosystems by introducing genetically altered, potentially toxic substances that cannot be withdrawn once released in the air, water, and soil.

In addition to these potential perils, Monsanto’s policies may exacerbate the profound problems faced especially by small-scale farmers:

• Through the use of patents that deny farmers the right to save seeds and plant them in the future, Monsanto may further impoverish small-scale farmers—particularly in developing countries—by forcing them to buy new seeds annually. This cost, on top of the added water, fertilizer, and pesticide expenses related to growing GM crops, has driven thousands of farmers into a never-ending cycle of debt. There is an epidemic of suicides by farmers in India that many be attributable to economic troubles related to failed GM crops – and for whom GM seeds are the only seeds now available.
• GM seeds born by the wind contaminate farms not using GM seeds, thereby infecting those farms and risking organic farmers’ organic certification and their loss of business. Monsanto does not appear to financially support these farmers and has sued some farmers for patent violations.

As consumers, investors, and concerned citizens, we urge Monsanto to cease production, promotion, and patenting of any new GMO seeds until credible, independent scientists confirm that GMOs are 100% safe for human health and the environment. As an interim step, given the current usage of GM seeds, Monsanto should publicly report how the company will:

• Support universal labeling of foods containing GMOs;
• Evaluate areas for potential contamination around GM- seed producing plants; 
• Prevent future contamination by GM seeds; 
• Develop a compensation plan for farmers that are found to have suffered economic loss due to GMO contamination (a key concern of organic farmers and others);
• Ensure farmers have the ability to choose non-GM seeds.

·         Dear Mark,

·         Another classic tale of corporate greed is unfolding in Ohio, and we need your help to put a stop to it.

·         In 2008, when Cooper Tire & Rubber Company was losing money, workers at its Findlay, Ohio, plant gave up $31 million in pay and benefits to help the company stay afloat.

·         Thanks to the workers' sacrifices and productivity, Cooper has made more than $300 million in profits since 2009. Cooper paid its executives millions of dollars in bonuses and bought a new corporate jet. What did its employees get? Locked out on Thanksgiving weekend.

·         Despite soaring profits, Cooper pushed a new contract on its employees with higher healthcare premiums and undisclosed wage terms. Do you think CEOs would accept a contract if they didn't know if they were getting a raise or a pay cut? Not a chance.

·         Still, Cooper's employees were more than willing to keep working through negotiations to reach a fair deal after their contract expired last fall. But Cooper refused to budge – leaving 1,050 workers out in the cold since November 28.

·         The workers in Findlay, Ohio, are counting on you! Email Cooper Tire NOW!

·         Cooper can easily afford to set things straight and still turn a profit. Cooper CEO Roy Armes received $4.7 million in compensation in 2010.¹ And the company has purchased a plant in Serbia for $17.3 million!²

·         Cooper wants to cry broke, but greed – not need – is driving this lockout. As Chico Ramirez, who's logged 25 years with the company, explains, "The thing that bothers us is that we gave them concessions to help them get back on their feet, and they are paying out bonuses instead of paying back the backbone of the company."

·         Around the country, people are fighting back against corporate greed and standing up for the 99%. Will you stand up and fight for Cooper's workers too?

·         Tell Cooper Tire that its bullying and greed must end now.

·         Thanks for all that you do for workers everywhere.

·         Hilary, Liz, Susan, Zoe, Michael, Bryan, and the American Rights at Work Team
www.AmericanRightsatWork.org

·         1. http://people.forbes.com/profile/roy-v-armes/22977
2. http://www.toledoblade.com/local/2012/01/02/U-S-senator-drops-in-to-cheer-up-locked-out-Findlay-tire-workers.html