Caterpillar digs in on Israeli bulldozer battle
BY DAVID ROEDER Business Reporter
Chicago Sun-Times
June 15, 2006
Palestinian-aligned protesters tried to use Caterpillar Inc.'s annual meeting Wednesday to persuade the company to re-examine sales to Israel, but they were met with a resistance befitting a manufacturer of bulldozers.
Caterpillar leadership refused to heed calls that it stop providing the Israeli army with bulldozers that, when armored, have been used to demolish Palestinian homes in disputed areas of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem.
Advocates of the sales cutoff said the easily recognizable "Cat" equipment has become a symbol of human rights violations in the occupied territories. Religious groups, including the Church of England, have criticized the company for continuing to sell Israel the bulldozers and have promised to divest their shares.
Jewish groups and others have characterized the destruction as attacks on known terrorist hideouts and a legitimate means of self-defense.
The Middle East figured in several questions put to Caterpillar Chairman James Owens at the annual meeting, held at the headquarters of Northern Trust Corp., 50 S. La Salle. Outside on La Salle Street, fewer than 100 people protested against Caterpillar while a smaller group of counter-demonstrators supported continued sales to Israel.
Owens, sometimes pleading for a question unconnected to politics, repeated that the company feels no responsibility for the end use of its products.
While expressing "heartfelt sympathies and concerns" for casualties in the Middle East conflict, "we corporately cannot resolve it," he said.
Arab nations rejected a boycott of Caterpillar, Owens said, because the Peoria-based company's products are used throughout the Middle East to abet construction and human progress.
He tried to redirect the focus to Caterpillar results, including a 20 percent increase in its dividend, 40 percent profit growth in 2005 and a growth outlook that would have the company nearly doubling its size since 2003. Owens said strong economies and low interest rates around the world have allowed the company to spend more than $1 billion a year in product development, strengthen a well-funded pension plan and consistently raise dividends.
Shareholders voted down two proposals touted as improvements to corporate governance. They were stockholder initiatives to separate the offices of chairman and chief executive and to provide for direct elections by majority rather than a plurality.
The latter proposal received a "yes" vote representing 45 percent of the shares, but failed to pass because it lacked a majority. Forty-two percent of shares were voted against it.
Owens argued that the board is "strong and independent" and that dividing the chairman-CEO roles would amount to "a dilution of leadership as well as accountability."
A shareholder proposal for annual election of directors instead of rotating three-year terms never came to a vote because none of its proponents presented it at the meeting.
Among those speaking against Caterpillar's sales to Israel were Craig and Cindy Corrie of Olympia, Wash., whose 23-year-old daughter Rachel was crushed to death in 2003 by a Caterpillar tractor. She was protesting the destruction of Gaza homes, but some circumstances of her death are in dispute.
Addressing Owens and the directors, Craig Corrie said: "By doing this, you are choosing a side, the side of people who use violence." He called on them to "make Caterpillar better than this."
Among those favoring Caterpillar's stance was Allyson Rowen Taylor, associate director of the American Jewish Congress, who said anyone concerned about the end use of company products would also have to examine sales in China and Egypt.
Before the meeting, Taylor was in a brief shouting match with someone in the opposite camp who she said called her a terrorist. Police separated them.
Taylor also said a few passers-by on La Salle Street called her derogatory names while she was handing out literature.
Chicago Sun-Times
June 15, 2006
Palestinian-aligned protesters tried to use Caterpillar Inc.'s annual meeting Wednesday to persuade the company to re-examine sales to Israel, but they were met with a resistance befitting a manufacturer of bulldozers.
Caterpillar leadership refused to heed calls that it stop providing the Israeli army with bulldozers that, when armored, have been used to demolish Palestinian homes in disputed areas of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem.
Advocates of the sales cutoff said the easily recognizable "Cat" equipment has become a symbol of human rights violations in the occupied territories. Religious groups, including the Church of England, have criticized the company for continuing to sell Israel the bulldozers and have promised to divest their shares.
Jewish groups and others have characterized the destruction as attacks on known terrorist hideouts and a legitimate means of self-defense.
The Middle East figured in several questions put to Caterpillar Chairman James Owens at the annual meeting, held at the headquarters of Northern Trust Corp., 50 S. La Salle. Outside on La Salle Street, fewer than 100 people protested against Caterpillar while a smaller group of counter-demonstrators supported continued sales to Israel.
Owens, sometimes pleading for a question unconnected to politics, repeated that the company feels no responsibility for the end use of its products.
While expressing "heartfelt sympathies and concerns" for casualties in the Middle East conflict, "we corporately cannot resolve it," he said.
Arab nations rejected a boycott of Caterpillar, Owens said, because the Peoria-based company's products are used throughout the Middle East to abet construction and human progress.
He tried to redirect the focus to Caterpillar results, including a 20 percent increase in its dividend, 40 percent profit growth in 2005 and a growth outlook that would have the company nearly doubling its size since 2003. Owens said strong economies and low interest rates around the world have allowed the company to spend more than $1 billion a year in product development, strengthen a well-funded pension plan and consistently raise dividends.
Shareholders voted down two proposals touted as improvements to corporate governance. They were stockholder initiatives to separate the offices of chairman and chief executive and to provide for direct elections by majority rather than a plurality.
The latter proposal received a "yes" vote representing 45 percent of the shares, but failed to pass because it lacked a majority. Forty-two percent of shares were voted against it.
Owens argued that the board is "strong and independent" and that dividing the chairman-CEO roles would amount to "a dilution of leadership as well as accountability."
A shareholder proposal for annual election of directors instead of rotating three-year terms never came to a vote because none of its proponents presented it at the meeting.
Among those speaking against Caterpillar's sales to Israel were Craig and Cindy Corrie of Olympia, Wash., whose 23-year-old daughter Rachel was crushed to death in 2003 by a Caterpillar tractor. She was protesting the destruction of Gaza homes, but some circumstances of her death are in dispute.
Addressing Owens and the directors, Craig Corrie said: "By doing this, you are choosing a side, the side of people who use violence." He called on them to "make Caterpillar better than this."
Among those favoring Caterpillar's stance was Allyson Rowen Taylor, associate director of the American Jewish Congress, who said anyone concerned about the end use of company products would also have to examine sales in China and Egypt.
Before the meeting, Taylor was in a brief shouting match with someone in the opposite camp who she said called her a terrorist. Police separated them.
Taylor also said a few passers-by on La Salle Street called her derogatory names while she was handing out literature.
posted by Hanan Elbadry at 12:05 PM
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