GA denounces Caterpillar,
but says no to divestment
By Edward Terry , The Layman, July 9, 2010
MINNEAPOLIS – Leaders of the Presbyterian Church (USA) want to send a message to Caterpillar Inc., for doing business with Israel, but are not ready to let go of its approximately $12 million in investments.
The 219th General Assembly voted 418-210 Friday morning to approve the Mission Responsibility Through Investment (MRTI) report on corporations involved in Israel, Gaza, East Jerusalem and the West Bank. The report calls on those corporations to confine their activities to solely peaceful pursuits.
Though it mentions Motorola, ITT, United Technologies and Hewlett-Packard, the report singles out Caterpillar Inc., for its inaction on previous condemnations of providing equipment for building Israeli settlements and walls and destroying Palestinian homes.
In approving the action, PCUSA officials expressed optimism that a newly-appointed CEO at Caterpillar could be a positive development in the ongoing debate. The report also acknowledges some of Caterpillars positive traits. But some commissioners still viewed the report, and GA backing of it, as a negative.
Carol McDonald, co-executive of the Synod of Lincoln Trails, offered a plea on behalf of the Caterpillar employees and supporters in the two-state area she serves. There are 32 Caterpillar plants and facilities, including the corporate headquarters, in the Synod of Lincoln Trails. She reminded the Assembly that Presbyterian employees of Caterpillar contribute part of their income to the PCUSA, and urged the group to vote against the recommendation.
“Those who are affected are told not to take it personally,” she said. “They cannot help but take this personally.
Others appealed for peace, and believe Caterpillar’s action should be denounced.
“We don’t want to be ‘not friends’ with the people who do good and faithful work,” said Sandy Tice of Riverside Presbytery. “We simply want to say we are alarmed if plowshares are used as swords.”
The approved proposal calls on MRTI to report its work and appropriate recommendations to the 220th General Assembly, which will meet in Pittsburgh in 2012.
No to divestment
That vote was followed was on two proposals, overtures 101 and 102, calling for divestment from Caterpillar as punishment for its doing business with Israel. The overtures were introduced by San Francisco and Newark presbyteries.
There were passionate arguments on both sides of the issue, but the GA decided to let its earlier action on endorsing the MRTI report, which denounced Caterpillar, but stopped short of divesting from it, answer the divestment calls. The Assembly voted 545-114 to not divest from the company.
Both overtures recommended that the Board of Pensions and Presbyterian Foundations divest from the all holdings in the company. Robert W. Maggs Jr., president and CEO the Board of Pensions, reported that it holds 54 shares of Caterpillar stock ($3,400) in a brokerage account, and another 148,000 shares with a market value of $9.7 million in a balance plan. He also reported that the Presbyterian Foundation holds approximately $1.5 million in Caterpillar stock, and another $685,000 in Caterpillar bonds.
One commissioner accused the Assembly off speaking from both sides of its month in denouncing the company, yet refusing to divest. Another speaker compared divesting from Caterpillar because of Israel’s actions to divesting from 3M because the Taliban uses Post-It notes.
There was an attempt to amend the proposal giving an MRTI another year to determine if progress is being made with Caterpillar before divestment would take place. That amendment was soundly defeated.