Anti-War
Committee – Chicago
Press Conference: Peace Activists
Announce SEC Approves Resolution for Boeing Stockholders’ Meeting
Monday, February 29
10:00 a.m.
Boeing Company Headquarters
100 North Riverside Plaza
For more information:
Kait McIntyre 815-988-8631, Joe Iosbaker 773-301-0109
Several
members of the Anti-War Committee (AWC) of Chicago purchased shares in the
Boeing Company in order to bring a resolution before the stockholders.
According to Richard Berg, who submitted the resolution, “Boeing Board refused to
submit our resolution to the stockholders, saying it interfered with the
regular business of the company.”
On
February 5th, 2016, the Securities and Exchange Commission overruled the
directors. Berg explained, “Our
resolution simply asked for more information about weapons sales to Israel.”
AWC’s Kait McIntyre explained
that the Boeing Board continues to oppose the resolution. “Boeing now says shareholders
don’t care about the issue of weapons sales to Israel. We think
it is irrefutable that shareholders care about the value of their stock, which
will plummet if they keep selling weapons to Israel in the face of global
condemnation.”
McIntyre cited the U.N. Report in summer 2015 that Foreign
Direct Investment (FDI) in Israel dropped by almost 50% in 2014 following the
war launched on the people of Gaza.
Israel recently completed their largest arms deal with the
U.S., to purchase almost $2 billion in ordnance. Boeing manufactures the
largest components of the bombs and missiles, including the guidance systems
that turn regular bombs into “smart bombs.” A report by Amnesty International showed that the bombings
which caused the most casualties in Gaza came from Boeing’s laser guided, one ton bombs, the MK-84/GBU-31.
AWC also cites the growing impact of the movement to Boycott,
Divest and Sanction (BDS) Israel to show the potential impact to Boeing’s financial standing. In Chicago, the
student government at the University of Illinois at Chicago passed a BDS resolution
that added Boeing to a list of companies they want the school to divest from
because of weapons sales to Israel.
McIntyre also pointed to the impact on brands such as
SodaStream, a target of BDS protest for operating a factory in illegal
settlements in the West Bank. The company admitted that their share price
tumbled in 2015 in significant part because they had to move to a new plant in
Southern Israel.
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