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