Ford shareholders reject proposals to drop protections for LGBT workers
A proposal submitted by Robert Hurley of Alton, Illinois to drop protections for Ford Motor Company's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) workers via new language that was devoid of all references to "sexual interests, activities or orientation" was shut down by a vote of 95 percent to reject the proposal. Ford attempted to avoid the vote, but Hurley went to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which ordered Ford to proceed with the tallying.
No mention of the American Family Association's current boycott of the company was made at the meeting.
[Source: 365gay.com]
(Thanks to Emulous1974 for the tip)
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Tony 7:47AM (5/12/2006)
quote "...was shut down by a vote ..."
isn't the expression "... was shot down..." ?
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Glenn A. 8:28AM (5/12/2006)
In the meanwhile, Ford continues to offend a significant percentage of the population, and Ford sales has dropped 5% and 7% over the prior two months in North America - at least, that is what I read recently.
Stupid. Instead of offending 5% of the voting stockholder population, and gaining the supposed support of LGBT people, they would have been wise simply to build good vehicles and leave the culture wars outside the scope of Ford Motor Company.
Too late now, isn't it?
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Rob 8:44AM (5/12/2006)
Glenn A.,
I HIGHLY doubt the drop in Ford's sales are due to the "significant percentage of the population" that you say is being offended by Ford simply being inclusive in its protections.
I'd be happy to see any support you might provide to bolster your argument.
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Elliott 8:57AM (5/12/2006)
Glenn,
This proposal has nothing to do with any of Ford's advertisements or with so-called "domestic partner benefits". Removing this language from Ford's anti-discrimination policies would be harmful to the company and the stockholders.
Many universites require recruiters (with the exception of the armed forces) to have such policies in place before they can recruit on campus. One such school is the University of Michigan.
http://career.engin.umich.edu/ocrguidelines.html
The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor is located about 30 minutes from Ford's World Headquarters and is known for being one of the best universities in the nation. More and more companies are adding statements like these to their employment policies.
Ford is in the majority of Fortune 500 companies by having fair employement practices for all sexual orientations. Though Ford has been in the news a lot lately due to its support of LBGT people, I believe you have mistakenly thought that this proposal would have an effect on Ford's advertising or health-care policies. 95% of the stockholders realized this. 5% believe that Ford can make due with a subpar recruiting effort, or were too blinded by hatred to think logically.
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Michael 8:57AM (5/12/2006)
Ford hasn't offended any significant part of the population. The AFA claims millions of members but is really making itself appear more powerful than it is. It's the AFA that's waging a culture war. Many of the biggest and most successful corporations in America (IBM, PepsiCo, Nike, Kraft, etc) offer the same protection and they aren't even giving the AFA an ounce of legitimate consideration. Meanwhile, the AFA continues its war on Kraft, Target Group, and Disney to no avail. There is no way in hell Ford's sales are down 7% because of the AFA.
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Antrow 9:20AM (5/12/2006)
Well, as a gay man who buys a new car every 12 months I can say that I would not purchase a car from a company that had a bad record with on gay employee issues or supported the AFA efforts. However, I would not purchase a car solely because a company advertised to the gay community or offered protections for its gay workers. The company would have to make a car that I wanted based on all the style, price, reliability and content.
Anyway, I think it is great that the shareholders spoke clearly to the AFA with a 95% to 5% vote that rejected their attempt to force a negative social agenda on Ford. I think it is hard to fight a vote that strong.
I was very fortunate to grow up in the 80's and 90's where for the most part I was just left alone to live peacefully. I feel very saddened for all the poor young kids that will be forever damaged by the anti-gay sentiments that have been reintroduced and inflamed since Bush came into office with his little fat friend Karl Rove. They gave groups like AFA two thumbs up and made them feel more legitimate in their quests. Unfortunately I don?t see the political tide turning anytime soon. The DNC lacks the spine and vision to bring the country back together. Well, enough politics, back to a happy subject? cars!
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Jim in Tampa 9:37AM (5/12/2006)
Thanks Michael. You took the words right out of my mouth.
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Peter W. 10:27AM (5/12/2006)
Amen Antrow. Amen.
Thanks too, Elliot and Michael.
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BCM 11:42AM (5/12/2006)
This is one time stockholders' reluctance to overrule management works in favor of the desireable result. I'd be interested to know what the yes-no vote ratios were on other proposals at Ford's meeting to see if they were similar, or if this was particularly emphatic.
Glenn A., Toyota also has this policy. Are they suffering or being boycotted? Of course, Toyota's customers are leftists, while Ford's are red-meat Americans. Only 2 of the Fortune 100 don't specifically include sexual orientation in their anti-discrimination policies.
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Marc Ricks 12:09PM (5/12/2006)
Post:
Elliot, lets please not start with the ?hate? thing again as we all know, by and large, that it?s a hollow accusation.
MICHAEL: The AFA claims millions of members but is really making itself appear more powerful than it is.
ME: Actually, if you go to their website, they have a ticker at the top that tells you how many members there are in the AFA. As of this writing, there are 3,105,166 supporters.
MICHAEL: The AFA continues its war on Kraft, Target Group, and Disney to no avail. There is no way in hell Ford's sales are down 7% because of the AFA.
ME: Actually, the AFA boycotted Proctor-Gamble (which Kraft is a subsidiary of) about a year ago, and was successful. Sales plummeted, stocks fell, and they had to decide what was more important: being a profitable business and making money for their stockholders, or funneling money to the side of a culture war that goes against the mainstream. They chose the latter and AFA called off their boycott. The same is true for Disney (though it took them nearly 10 years to learn most of their lessons). They closed Disney stores, scaled back their luxury cruise liner group, and had to restructure the prices at their parks, among other things.
As for Target (if you?re referring to the retail chain), that boycott has absolutely nothing to do with homosexuals. It has everything to do with profiting at Christmas, but refusing to say the word Christmas. They would not acknowledge the reason that they were making money so, AFA called for a boycott.
With that said, I don?t support the AFA in everything. I don?t agree with everything that they have to say.
Can we get something straight here (or is the homosexual community so blinded by THEIR hate to see past themselves?it doesn?t feel to good to be accused of that, does it)? This boycott is not about discrimination; it?s not about treating gays like second-class citizens. It?s about a company venturing into an area that, frankly, it has no vested interest in.
I know that I have said this at least a half-dozen times, and yet, it manages to get ignored. I don?t hate nobody?cause I?m nobody. I, personally, don?t want Ford, or anybody else, to take a stand at all. Make the goods that we need and want, but stay out of the cultural arena as it?s only going to tick somebody off, no matter what side you?re on.
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Marc Ricks 12:12PM (5/12/2006)
typo: "being a profitable business and making money for their stockholders, or funneling money to the side of a culture war that goes against the mainstream. They chose the latter and AFA called off their boycott."
They chose the former (the first one) and then AFA called off the boycott.
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Nick 12:39PM (5/12/2006)
I'd say offending 5% of the population is a damn sight better than offending 95% of the population. Even if one did believe that homosexuality was a sin, isn't the idea to 'hate the sin, not the sinner'?
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Marcello Mastroianni 2:10PM (5/12/2006)
The Fusion has always been on top of my shopping list, now I've got yet another reason to keep it there.
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Antrow 2:49PM (5/12/2006)
Marc,
Wow, you and my Dad would get along great! Yes, you must be correct, the majority are the true victims here. Having to make so many accomodations to keep the minority from being so darn angry.
I don't see how you can think that by adding a sexual orientation to their non-descrimination policy is getting involved somewhere they should not be. All employers have the right and in my opinion should try to make employees feel like they will be treated equally and hired or fired based on job performance and not some other presonal criteria. Adding sexual orientation is one way to do that.
You may be a nice person but there are many people out there that would fire or harrass someone just because of their sexual orientation. Plus, the non-discrimination policy does not say that they will protect specifically homosexual workers, it applies to sexual orientation in general, so it also applies to heterosexual workers.
As for the Chritmas issue, I see no problem in saying Merry Cristmas or Happy Holidays. I respect any company, even the White House, if they prefer to say Happy Holidays to be inclusive.
If it makes you more feel more comfortable to paint homosexuals as hateful and angry and the majority as the victums then more power to you. Enjoy life in the bubble.
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iQuack 2:52PM (5/12/2006)
My guess is that most people vote with management on proxy forms and management was against a stupid and hateful proposal.
I own stock in quite a few companies and vote against the crap that discriminates for silly reasons.
The kinds of people who make these obnoxious proposals need to get laid or at least find a hobby.
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Michael 4:02PM (5/12/2006)
Marc, there are so many problems with your post that I don't know where to begin.
First of all, Kraft is no subsidiary of Proctor and Gamble, but of Philip Morris (now called Altria Group) which owns 87% of Kraft. A quick search reveals that while Kraft's profits dipped 1.2% over 2004, sales rose 6% in 2005. Job losses announced earlier this year were part of a restructuring program that began in January 2004, long before any AFA action:
http://www.hoovers.com/kraft-foods/--ID__103392--/free-co-factsheet.xhtml
I could find not source indicating Kraft changed any policy last year, nor could I find any source indicating any "plummet" in Kraft's sales due to a boycott. Please provide proof of your claims.
Oh, and just in case AFA boycotted Proctor and Gamble too (as you say), sales were up 10.4% in 2005 there:
http://www.hoovers.com/the-procter-&-gamble-company/--ID__11211--/free-co-factsheet.xhtml
The Disney Company did go through financial restructuring and had to lay off employees and close stores, but most of this came as a result of a 25% attendance dropoff in September 2001. Can you guess why? I'll give you a hint, it had nothing to do with homosexuality (unless you're Pat Robertson):
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/1646153.stm
An anyway, attendance at its parks has risen substantially in the last five years and Disney is back up to profits not seen since the 90's. And guess what - Disney STILL has a gayday each year! Once again, if you can prove any link between an official AFA boycot and any significant sales decline at any corporation, please do. But you cannot simply say "X's profits were down last year, thus is was the AFA boycot that caused it." I'm not accusing you of hating anyone, but I do think you're giving the AFA way more credit than it deserves.
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Tone 4:54PM (5/12/2006)
#2
"In the meanwhile, Ford continues to offend a significant percentage of the population, and Ford sales has dropped 5% and 7% over the prior two months in North America - at least, that is what I read recently."
Article:
"Company's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) workers via new language that was devoid of all references to "sexual interests, activities or orientation" was shut down by a vote of 95 percent to reject the proposal."
HUH, 95% you don't sound correct.
What is with Marc Ricks?! I think he is sexually attracted to homosexual news articles, look up "gay" anything in autoblog and he is right there with the gay men. Debating more of the same every time, Marc 95% of the shareholders voted NO, period, this article has nothing else to do with anything other than this article. Get over it, your OBSESSED with gay people.
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DJ 5:04PM (5/12/2006)
"I know that I have said this at least a half-dozen times, and yet, it manages to get ignored. I don?t hate nobody?cause I?m nobody."
-Ohhh, stop with the pity party already.
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DJ 6:10PM (5/12/2006)
"No menton of the American Family Association's current boycott of the company was made at the meeting."
So your telling me people who have invested MILLIONS and have cash hanging on the line with FORD could give two shits less about this boycott?! I'm LOVING IT!
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Marc Ricks 6:30PM (5/12/2006)
ANTROW: I don't see how you can think that by adding a sexual orientation to their non-descrimination policy is getting involved somewhere they should not be.
ME: Did you read what I said? I said that the boycott has nothing to do with anti-discrimination policies. In many previous posts I have stated, and I quote:
"I think you and I agree that people should not be fired for their sexual preference. As long as they follow the rules of etiquette, are professional in the workplace, and are competent in their job, they are valuable employees."
ANTROW: If it makes you more feel more comfortable to paint homosexuals as hateful and angry and the majority as the victums then more power to you. Enjoy life in the bubble.
ME: Antrow, in the various posts I have made in regards to the Ford/homosexual coop, I have been forced to ward off many accusations of hate, despite my constant repetitious assertions to the opposite. I don?t hate gay people, but I don?t have to accept their lifestyle either. Like I said in just this last post, ?I don?t hate nobody because I?m nobody.?
MICHAEL: First of all, Kraft is no subsidiary of Proctor and Gamble, but of Philip Morris
ME: Michael, you seem like an educated individual. I will grant you that Kraft is not a part of Proctor-Gamble (I admit my error openly).
MICHAEL: Oh, and just in case AFA boycotted Proctor and Gamble too (as you say), sales were up 10.4% in 2005 there:
ME: ?over the course of the year (finish the statement). The boycott ended in the first fiscal quarter of 2005, there was plenty of time to make up for lost revenue while increasing profits.
MICHAEL: The Disney Company did go through financial restructuring and had to lay off employees and close stores, but most of this came as a result of a 25% attendance dropoff in September 2001.
ME: Okay, if you want to take the word of the U.K.?s most liberal news source, you go right ahead. Disney stores were closing before 2000, the stocks continued to fall before 2000, investors were scared. I suppose it could all be happenstance that they HAD to restructure financially, or that they severed their connection with Miramax films, or that they were forced to close Disney Stores, as well as lower the parks prices BEFORE 9-11. Again, forgive me if I can?t take the word of a news resource that has an obvious bias (even the English masses don?t like BBC).
MICHAEL: And guess what - Disney STILL has a gayday each year!
ME: Yeah, and so does Six Flags. However, Disney (nor Six Flags Over Texas, which is the only one I can vouch for) no longer is a SPONSOR of the GayDay parades. As it was before, Disney was bringing in merchandise and special promotions for this specific event. They cannot, nor should they, discriminate on any basis, including sexual preference. Everyone should be allowed to go to the theme parks, but it shouldn?t be a ?gay? theme at a family theme park.
Believe me when I say that I don?t go for everything that the AFA has to say. Fortunately, I can think for myself and choose to do just that. They may, however, bring something to my attention that I wouldn?t have heard about otherwise, and then I will base my actions on the information given, and then will I proceed.
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