Fifty-two major U.S. corporations have agreed in writing to resist Arab boycott demands in response to an American Jewish Congress-sponsored shareholder campaign, the organization reported today Will Maslow, general counsel of the Congress, told a news conference that 42 additional corporations and banks, most of them engaged in “substantial” trade with Arab states, would be asked at company annual meetings in 1977 to reveal their policies on the Arab boycott of Israel and U.S. firms that deal with Israel.
Among the corporations that have given written pledges to the Congress in opposition to various phases of the Arab boycott, he said, were Borden, Control Data, Eastman Kodak, Ford, National Can, Reynolds Aluminum and Scott Paper. Beginning next February, stockholders will be voting on AJCongress resolutions at meetings of: Alcoa, Bethlehem Steel. Dow Chemical. DuPont. Goodyear, Mobil Oil. Pfizer, Proctor and Gamble, Reynolds Industries, Tenneco and 23 other firms.
In a separate shareholder resolution, banks and bank holding companies will be asked to cease processing letters of credit from Arab buyers that require certificates of compliance with boycott regulations as a condition of payment. Targets of the campaign are J.P. Morgan & Co., First Chicago Corp., Philadelphia National Corp. and six other financial institutions.
NEW PHASE IN AJ CONGRESS DRIVE
For the first time, pension funds, foundations, university endowments and other large institutional investors will be solicited to support the anti-boycott resolution, Maslow disclosed. The resolutions are being submitted by the AJCongress on behalf of 200 individual shareholders who are members or supporters of the organization. Each resolution carries with it a request that in accordance with the rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission, it be included in the annual meeting proxy materials that are distributed to shareholders.
The effort to win support from major institutional investors such as mutual funds and insurance companies marks a new phase in the AJCongress drive, which Maslow termed “the most massive stockholder campaign ever presented on an issue of public interest.”
The shareholder drive was launched last December when the AJCongress, acting on behalf of individual shareholders, submitted resolutions asking the companies to disclose any involvement in the Arab boycott against Israel. These resolutions were voted on at 33 company meetings last spring. In 22 of the 33, the Congress resolution received more than 3 percent of the vote, automatically qualifying for resubmission.
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