Friday, March 15, 2013

Woot! Another corporation dumps ALEC!

Now it's 44.
More good news on the vast anti-worker conspiracy front: We learned late yesterday that Bristol-Myers Squibb is the latest to quit its membership in ALEC, the billionaire-backed escort service for corporations and state lawmakers.

By our count, the global biopharmaceutical company is the 44th corporation to leave ALEC in the past two years. We presume it's because tBMS realized they couldn't be linked to ALEC and make any claims about integrity or sustainability in their corporate mission statement. ALEC's agenda has been exposed over the past two years, and it's pretty much the opposite of integrity and sustainability. And it sure isn't about consumer safety, something that's kind of important when you're buying drugs.

The Unitarian-Universalist Association found out the news:
The Unitarian Universalist Association filed a shareholder resolution with Bristol-Myers Squibb seeking expanded disclosure of the company’s lobbying activities, both direct and indirect. After a constructive dialogue the company agreed to changes in its disclosure of lobbying oversight and expenditures, and the resolution was withdrawn. We commend the company for its openness and commitment to put significant information on its website. In addition, in the course of our conversation, the company reported that Bristol-Myers Squibb had been a member of ALEC but let their membership lapse at the end of 2012. We appreciate this clarification from the company on the status of its ALEC membership.
Two days ago, we learned Wellpoint, the for-profit managed care company, dumped ALEC.