CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Annual Summary of Engagements with Corporations 

2024-25

INTRODUCTION

Each new year brings unique challenges for our planet, country, communities, and ourselves. As we work toward equity, justice, and opportunity for the forgotten and vulnerable, we see new challenges emerge even as we address old ones. The Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia’s Office of Corporate Social Responsibility continues the important work of holding large corporations accountable to their workers, customers, and all stakeholders by using the congregation’s investments as a tool to protect the human rights of all people. The U.N. Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights require companies to respect human rights within their operations and throughout their entire value chains. As part of ICCR’s Investor Alliance for Human Rights (IAHR), we help provide a roadmap to evaluate the risks and impacts of the companies we engage with. Corporate management and board members must provide leadership that addresses significant operational, financial, and reputational risks associated with negative human rights impacts across all businesses. Although companies are quick to publicly promote their written human rights policies, these words ring hollow without independent third-party audits and assessments to verify that the policies are properly implemented.

The actions listed below demonstrate our unwavering commitment to human rights across all sectors. From environmental concerns like Campbell Soup’s water management policies and Wells Fargo’s financing of destructive natural gas pipelines, to workplace health issues such as MGM Grand’s decision to allow smoking in their casinos, to labor violations including Tyson Foods’ child labor practices—we consistently advocate for the rights of all people and communities in every engagement.

The Office of Corporate Social Responsibility’s advocacy will continue to reflect the values of the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia as we seek new avenues and strategies to achieve justice, equity, and opportunity for those most disenfranchised and vulnerable among us. Collaboration leads to success, which is generally evident in our shareholder work as members of coalitions. The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) and the Investor Environmental Health Network (IEHN) have allowed their members to leverage the group’s collective expertise and resources to maximize our influence on corporate decisions.

One important component of our Annual Corporate Report is to highlight some of the more than 50 corporate engagements that have taken place over the past 12 months. In our corporate engagements, we are committed to making the moral and business case for corporate responsibility as seen through the lens of ensuring basic human rights.

HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE RIGHTS OF COMMUNITIES

Altria Group, American Airlines, Chevron, Citigroup, Delta Airlines, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Northrup Grumman, Target, Tyson Foods, Wells Fargo

AMERICAN AIRLINES

ICCR shareholders have engaged American Airlines for several years, learning the specific challenges and opportunities airlines face regarding human trafficking. American is a leader, closely following the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD)—a framework for companies to identify actual or potential risks and harm to human rights and the environment.

They partner with New Friends New Life to support trafficking survivors and the company’s legal team provides pro bono legal aid to help expunge survivors’ records. Additionally, they’ve built a supplier management process that evaluates adherence to responsible employment practices.

LOCKHEED MARTIN

Continuing the community’s engagement with Lockheed Martin, we filed a shareholder proposal asking the company to report on the alignment of its political activities, such as lobbying and political spending, with its Human Rights Policy. Much of our concern stems from their lobbying efforts to Congress to increase the budget for the F-35, a fighter jet with many technical issues that has been sold to the Israeli military for its destruction of Gaza.

Controversy has been introduced to this engagement, not from the company, but from other shareholders. Two Jewish organizations, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and JLens, a Jewish investment firm that is also a member of ICCR, have publicly accused shareholders involved in this action of being motivated by politics and antisemitism. The proposal received 9.6% of the vote, but we will continue to engage.

WELLS FARGO

The Sisters of St. Francis co-filed a shareholder proposal with Wells Fargo asking the company to report on the effectiveness of their policies and practices in respecting internationally recognized human rights standards for Indigenous Peoples’ rights. Though Wells Fargo touts its own Indigenous Peoples Statement, it continues to finance numerous pipeline projects that violate those rights.

Most notably, they were the lead financier of the Dakota Access pipeline in 2016, which resulted in two cities withdrawing $2 billion in assets from the bank. Several years later, Wells Fargo provided over $3.86 billion in financing to Enbridge, enabling the widely opposed Enbridge Line 3 and Line 5 tar sands pipeline reroutes. The proposal received 11.9% of the vote, but we will continue to press the company.

ACCESS TO HEALTHCARE

AbbVie, Amgen, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Pfizer, UnitedHealth

ABBVIE

A common theme of ICCR shareholders’ discussions with pharmaceutical companies is that the right to health is a fundamental human right, codified in the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. AbbVie has been accused of using anticompetitive practices both in the United States and in Europe to raise prices on essential medicines.  The Sisters of St. Francis joined a group of shareholders, led by Friends Fiduciary, in filing a proposal with AbbVie requesting the company report on how their stated commitment to human rights aligns with the United Nations Guiding Principles. Without a human rights due diligence process, which AbbVie does not have presently, they are deficient.

JOHNSON & JOHNSON

Like our action with AbbVie, ICCR shareholders filed a proposal requesting a report on how Johnson & Johnson’s human rights policies align with international guidelines. Mercy Investment Services led the filing, which points out that medical care in the event of sickness and the prevention and treatment and control of diseases, depends largely on timely and appropriate access to quality medicines. From a human rights perspective, access to medicines is intrinsically linked with the principles of equality and non-discrimination, transparency, participation, and accountability.

The company, which has a long history of engagement with ICCR members, has had significant turnover and has become less forthright in our dealings with them. The proposal received 11.2% of the vote.

UNITEDHEALTH

UnitedHealth Group has been accused by multiple parties of denying an inordinate number of claims, as well as appealing prior authorizations (PA). We co-filed a resolution led by the Northwest Coalition for Responsible Investment, asking them to report on the public health costs created by the company’s practices that limit or delay access to healthcare. UnitedHealth agreed to a dialogue, in which it adamantly insisted that its rate of denial is lower than its competitors’ and that they are justified in those decisions.

A recent U.S. Senate subcommittee report found that, among other things, “Medicare Advantage insurers (including UHG) are intentionally using prior authorization to boost profits” and denials at those facilities force seniors to choose between their health and finances. The company successfully challenged our proposal at the SEC, and we were denied a chance to take it to a vote.

WORKER JUSTICE

Aramark, Bally’s, Boyd Gaming, Caesar’s Entertainment, CVS Health, Darden,  Dollar General, Dollar Tree, DoorDash, FedEx, General Mills, Lyft, McDonald’s, MGM Resorts, Restaurant Brands International, Penn Entertainment, Walmart

ARAMARK

Living wage is a constant issue with many companies, particularly in the retail and food service industries. The Sisters of St. Francis have engaged in many productive dialogues with Aramark, a Philadelphia-based company, on numerous issues over the years, but have received less cooperation recently. We will file a shareholder proposal with the company in July, requesting a report on their “Living Wage Compensation Philosophy.” We ask that Aramark utilize tools, such as the MIT living wage calculator and the U.N. Global Compact’s Forward Faster devices to shrink the widening pay gap and provide fair compensation for its workers.

DOLLAR TREE

This company, which also owns Family Dollar, has been the subject of numerous complaints from workers regarding their safety, some due to mismanagement, like inventory blocking exits, to issues with customers. Dollar Tree has responded proactively and announced a massive training of employees on de-escalation techniques and has reached out to many communities where they do business to attempt to partner with others in neighborhoods. Step Up Louisiana, a grassroots coalition committed to improving safety and worker pay at all dollar stores, has reached out to the company in an effort to collaborate on solutions to violent incidents at the stores. We continue to work with the company.

GENERAL MILLS

General Mills’ deep and wide-reaching supply chain brings with it inherent risks to workers, as well as the communities they inhabit. The company has conducted enterprise-wide assessments and identified sugarcane as a high-risk ingredient. They have partnered with organizations such as Proforest and Bonsucro to assess and mitigate risks. While General Mills expects suppliers to comply with the rules laid out in their code of conduct, their audit program only includes Tier 1 suppliers, leaving lower-tier suppliers, like many Indian sugarcane cutters, at risk of severe human rights abuses. Dialogues will continue.

PENN ENTERTAINMENT

As part of ICCR tobacco group’s initiative on behalf of workers in casinos, eight casinos have received requests to collaborate in an effort to improve working conditions for employees on the casino floor. While states like New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Nevada have laws prohibiting smoking in most indoor areas such as restaurants, they carve out exemptions for casinos.

Workers, such as game dealers, must work their entire shift surrounded by smoke. Employees from various casino companies have banded together to form Casino Employees Against Smoking Effects (CEASE) to bring attention to the health harms that have already affected many workers.

The Sisters of St. Francis have been deeply involved in this small group of ICCR shareholders, but cannot join in company filings, as we have not held stock for the required three years yet. We will continue to participate in dialogues and other actions.

WALMART

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs have come under attack recently, as the federal government has described diversity initiatives as “illegal and immoral” and effectively cleared the runway for private companies to roll back or completely abandon those commitments. In November 2024, Walmart announced it is ending racial equity training programs for staff and evaluating programs designed to increase supplier diversity. Walmart has worked to increase the number of suppliers that are at least 51% owned or managed by a woman, minority, veteran or someone who is LGBTQ in recent years.

In discussions with ICCR shareholders, the company used deceptive language to divert attention from its decision and touted the publication of its “Our People” brief that describes the composition of their Inclusion Council and its broad goal to “foster a culture of belonging across the enterprise.”

TOBACCO

Altria, Kroger, Philip Morris International, Walgreens Boots Alliance

KROGER

The Kroger Company, a large supermarket chain, operates pharmacies and health clinics within its stores and promotes the idea of good health in its corporate creed. Last year’s filing on the public health impacts of selling tobacco did not garner enough votes to file it again, so the Sisters of St. Francis filed a shareholder resolution asking the company to educate its cigarette buying customers on the dangers to the environment of improperly discarding their cigarette butts.

A dialogue with the company revealed that they have no interest in addressing this issue currently. The annual shareholders’ meeting is upcoming and will determine our strategy moving forward.

PHILIP MORRIS INTERNATIONAL

PMI, along with other traditional tobacco manufacturers, has slowly transitioned to more smoke-free products, though not divesting from combustible cigarettes. Although our group is currently engaging with the company on lobbying, it is the subject of their lobbying that interests us. They pour great sums of money into influencing members of Congress and the administration on policies that may make it easier to gain approval from the FDA on new products, such as Zyn, a nicotine pouch.

The company is heavily marketing iQOS, a heat-not-burn nicotine delivery system that may be less harmful than cigarettes but is not benign and is at least as addictive as other products. They see this as progress, though we disagree.

WALGREENS BOOTS ALLIANCE

After years of filing shareholder proposals on the dangers that tobacco products pose to many of Walgreens’ customers, and having exhausted our chances in those avenues, the Sisters of St. Francis filed this year requesting that the company report on their responsibility to educate customers on the environmental damage caused by improperly discarded cigarette butts. Cigarette filters, which contain microplastics, are the most littered item on the planet, with roughly 4.5 trillion filters polluting our oceans, rivers, city sidewalks, parks, soil, and beaches every year.

The company recently announced that a private equity firm will buy the company, taking it private, and keeping us from engaging as shareholders in the future. Walgreens will continue its irresponsible ways.

WATER, CHEMICALS, & ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION

Campbell Soup, Dollar Tree, Essential Utilities, Hasbro, Lowe’s

CAMPBELL SOUP

California State Teachers’ Retirement System took over leadership of this engagement and noted that their supply chain water risk is of particular concern, given its outsized contribution to the company’s water footprint. In their latest Corporate Responsibility Report, we see that approximately 50% of Campbell’s priority raw materials are sourced from eight basins that are at risk of current or future water stress. Several questions have been raised, such as: “Within the suppliers’ water footprint in high stress basins, what key activities are driving the high water footprint of suppliers in high stress basins?” and “What actions are being undertaken to mitigate supply chain water risk in these basins?” With the company’s cooperation, we will continue to meet on this topic.

LOWE’S

Among the many initiatives the company has taken in recent years was its commitment to exclude expanded polystyrene foam and polyvinyl chloride film from private brand packaging. Their recently released CSR report also includes the disclosure of a new commitment to have all private-brand Lowe’s packaging be recyclable, compostable, or reusable by 2030. Lowe’s developed guidance documents for their private-brand packaging vendors with guidelines for “good, better, best” practices for packaging materials.

PFAS and PVC are flagged in the vendor guidance as CoHC (Chemical of High Concern) to avoid. Lowe’s hasn’t flagged all chemicals of concern used or found in packaging in the guidance yet, but they’re aware of the links between packaging, especially plastic, and harmful chemicals.

GUN SAFETY

Smith & Wesson, Sturm Ruger, Visa

SMITH & WESSON

With the help of lawyers from Newman Ferrera, a small group of Catholic women religious, including the Sisters of St. Francis, filed a Books and Records Demand to inspect and copy certain books and records of the company to determine if the board’s failure to prevent the company’s profound and significant exposure to liability related to its manufacture, marketing, and sales of AR-15 Rifles amounts to a breach of fiduciary duty, mismanagement, and/or wrongdoing.

The company did not comply, so we took the next step and filed a derivative lawsuit against the board of directors on behalf of the company, its employees, and shareholders. This was always going to be a long, arduous task, as the legal system moves slowly. Recently, the company has filed motions to have our case dismissed. We are at the mercy of judges and their leanings. Unless we receive a negative judgment, we will continue.

STURM RUGER

The bar has been set low for our engagements with the company after many years of either silence or combative dialogues. The tone of our most recent conversation, in early 2025, was improved, with respectful answers to our questions. However, the information provided has not changed. Sturm Ruger continues to introduce and produce new and efficient weapons that kill faster, while ignoring the devastation those products cause. One of our strategies over the years has been to highlight the potential legislative risks they could face as the nation begins to demand action to curb the epidemic of gun violence. However, the current political climate would suggest that no change is coming in the near future.

CONCLUSION

The congregation holds active membership in:

• Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR)
• Northwest Committee for Responsible Investment (NWCRI)
• Investor Environmental Health Network (IEHN)
• Investor Advocates for Social Justice (IASJ)

Our membership in the organizations listed above as well as our active collaboration with organizations such as Ceres, Franciscan Action Network, Christian Brothers Investment Services, Walden Asset Management, Boston Common Asset Management, and many other SRI managers enable us to effect change at the corporate level.

Thank you for reading and participating in this ministry. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out: tmccaney@osfphila.org.

Tom McCaney