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Headquarters:
900 Alice St., #320, Oakland, CA 94607
Phone: 510-653-3415
Fax: 510-986-1062
tigra@transnationalaction.org, www.transnationalaction.org
Regional Coordinators:
San Francisco:
Jessie Fernandez, 415-832-0386, fernandez.jessie@gmail.com
Oakland:
Alex Gutierrez, 510-653-3415
tigra@transnationalaction.org
Los Angeles:
David Silva Villalobos, 559-303-0221, dsilvavillalobos@yahoo.com.mx
Minneapolis:
Amina Dualle, 952-994-8712, aminadualle@hotmail.com
Gerardo Cajamarca, 612-623-8003, gentelatinauswa@yahoo.com
Chicago:
Carlos Arango, 312-666-5508, carango957@aol.com
North Carolina:
Anna Lee, 910-465-9215, aleebeach@yahoo.com
Boston:
Carlos Rosales, 617-522-0582, iseduc@aol.com
Providence:
Pahola Roca, 401-365-8695, cheparoca@hotmail.com
Shannah Kurland, 401-228-8996, shannah_k@hotmail.com
New York:
Jessica Violetta, 954-591-9201,
jess.tigra@gmail.com
Texas:
Che López, 210-299-2666,
chelopez@swunion.org
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What are you demanding of Western Union?
We are calling on Western Union to adopt a Transnational Community Benefits Agreement (TCBA) that would require the company to partner in genuine community reinvestment, lower its fees, and establish fairer exchange rates. We have entered into negotiations with other companies in the money transfer industry who are interested in signing a TCBA with TIGRA.
We are concerned that Western Union steals so much more than money, as a predatory financial institution in our communities. First, the company makes enormous profits off of our communities, then, it fails to give anything back. We depend on money transfers – totaling $300 billion worldwide this year – to send money home for food, medicine, and other basic necessities.
Why are you continuing your boycott of Western Union? Didn’t they just announce a new program to help immigrants?
We have not heard an adequate response from Western Union since TIGRA launched its boycott on September 10. Though Western Union announced the “Our World, Our Family” program in the wake of the boycott, the initiative simply re-packages its current giving program, resulting in a slight increase in its overall philanthropy. The company’s community reinvestment has increased only to $0.49 per every $100 in profit from $0.41. This is far below what companies like Wal-Mart ($2.30) and Ben & Jerry’s ($7.50) reinvest in communities.
Many of the organizations Western Union has chosen to partner with through its Foundation have little connection to low- and moderate-income immigrant communities in the United States that are the bulk of Western Union's customer base. We want Western Union to deal directly with community organizations that intimately understand the needs and aspirations (and development priorities) of our transnational families. Their initiatives to date are insufficient in supporting efforts for self-determination in affected communities.
The company’s new initiative also does not address other key demands of the campaign that deal with the predatory practices of Western Union: reduction of transaction fees and setting a fair exchange rate. Even the World Bank has calculated that Western Union—with the highest profit margin in the industry (30%)—could lower its fees by one-third and retain profits comparable to its nearest competitor. We are boycotting Western Union, to stop this predatory relationship with low-income, predominantly minority, communities. Western Union’s inaction will be met by a more determined action by immigrants in 2008.
Why are you demanding that Western Union reinvest in immigrant communities?
The federal Community Reinvestment Act mandates banks to sign community benefit agreements, but no such law exists for the money transfer industry. Yet vulnerable immigrant communities rely on predatory financial institutions like Western Union for money transfers, check cashing, and payday loans.
The CRA has resulted in $4 trillion in community reinvestment funds being released through agreements signed between banks and community groups since 1977. We are calling on Western Union to sign a Transnational Community Benefits Agreement that would ensure community reinvestment of $1 per every transaction while also forcing the company to reduce its fees and establish fairer exchange rates.
Western Union’s annual profits of more than $1 billion come directly from our communities. In recent years the company has been able to almost triple the number of its outlets to 320,000 worldwide. In 2006 CEO Christina Gold earned a bonus of $16 million. Adopting the TCBA would make Western Union more accountable to its customer base, especially those immigrants working low-wage jobs with little regulation.
Doesn't Western Union already reinvest in immigrant communities?
Western Union is mandated to reinvest in the communities it serves through the Western Union Foundation. But the Foundation fails to adequately reinvest in our communities, while overlooking leaders in our communities who should be equal partners in carrying out reinvestment projects.
The “Tres por Uno” program in Mexico boosts the company’s community reinvestment to only $0.77 per every $100 in profit for five participating Mexican states. In Zacatecas, Western Union’s total contribution has been less than 1 percent of the money raised for “Tres por Uno” projects in the state. It is also problematic that “Tres por Uno” is administered by the Mexican government without sufficient input from communities that have sent home the remittances.
Aren’t Western Union’s fees already low?
No. An immigrant worker earning minimum wage must work a full week to pay off a year’s worth of Western Union fees and commissions. Although an individual money transfer costs Western Union less than $5 (dropping to $3.27 for second and subsequent transactions), the company charges more than $20. Western Union consistently charges 10-15% more than its closest competitors in high fees and low exchange rates.
Studies show that if remittance fees were cut in half, 33 million people could be lifted out of poverty in the developing world. Immigrant workers spend up to a week's wages to pay these monthly fees; for their families in their home countries, the fee represents almost two month's worth of wages.
What has the boycott accomplished so far?
The boycott has already recruited more than 200 immigrant organizations across the United States, with local boycotts launched in at least a dozen cities, including Los Angeles, Chicago, Oakland, Minneapolis, Charlotte, Providence, New Brunswick, and New York City. The Providence, R.I. city council passed a resolution supporting the campaign’s demands; additional cities are considering similar resolutions. Even Western Union agents have refused to offer the company’s service in support of the boycott. Key transnational migrant networks are supporting the campaign, with international launches in Manila, Philippines and Mexico City, Mexico.
TIGRA has submitted a shareholder resolution to force Western Union to develop and implement a written policy for community reinvestment that would prioritize building social capital in immigrant communities.
Is this the first time Western Union has been targeted for its predatory business practices?
No. Immigrant customers filed a class action lawsuit against the company in 1998, accusing the company of failing to disclose extra profits that resulted from millions of dollars in hidden fees and unfair exchange rates. The Western Union Foundation was established as part of the settlement of this lawsuit in December 2000. The Foundation’s contributions to the “Tres por Uno” program falls under the settlement’s mandate that the company provide resources to Mexican groups.
Who is TIGRA?
Transnational Institute for Grassroots Research and Action (TIGRA) is a national network of more than 200 immigrant organizations in the United States and migrant networks around the world working together to clean up the practices of the money transfer industry to ensure community reinvestment. Visit www.transnationalaction.org for more information.
