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TIGRA Launches New Front in Corporate Accountability CampaignForty years after the enactment of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) which forced mainstream banks to extend loans and credit to low-income communities of color, TIGRA introduces a new campaign that seeks to hold the “fringe banking industry” to standards of fairness and transparency. Introduced to Oakland city officials as the “Community Banking Transparency Ordinance”, TIGRA’s proposal is to make companies disclose their corporate-giving policy and practices in the communities they benefit from as well as to keep a public record of comments made by customers of its quality of service and community involvement.
Eleven days later, close to 60 people jammed a small room at the Spanish Speaking Citizens Foundation to hear testimonies from community leaders like Jennifer and to urge City Council representatives to support TIGRA’s proposed ordinance. One of the impassioned speakers was Arturo Campos, who works as a carpenter and hails from Izalco, El Salvador. “If the City Council can pass this ordinance, we can have more transparency. We’re working really hard and those companies are profiting from all of it!” After hearing a number of personal testimonies, Nancy Nadel, City Council Representative for District 3, starts her response with “The idea of a transparency ordinance is an excellent idea. It’s definitely needed given what we’ve heard from people in the community…I’d be happy to sponsor this ordinance. Let’s get this started!” And the room exploded with applause and cheers. If passed, the Oakland ordinance will be the first one in the nation, but it will not be the last. This new front creates local campaigns in TIGRA’s broader effort to set community reinvestment standards in the money transfer industry. It brings the need for “corporate social responsibility” from the rhetorical stratosphere to the neighborhood pavement: for example, money for more children at the neighborhood childcare, and resources for after-school youth programs down the street. The campaign signals a new turn in immigrant-inspired action: one that is locally focused, with strategic demands on an industry that has transnational reach.
Evidence of Racist Practices within Western Union's Austrian OfficesThe European Network Against Racism (ENAR) is very concerned by claims of racism practiced within Western Union Offices in Vienna/Austria. Our concerns were triggered by a report about the recruitment of black people by Western Union. It has come to our attention that in May 2006 Mr. Simon Inou, an award-winning journalist, interviewed for a job at the Western Union office in Vienna and was shortlisted for the job. Soon after his interview Mr. Inou received a call from a rather distraught Communications Director explaining that her boss had been in to see her and had casually mentioned that it might not look good if she as an African female employed another African. Her boss felt that the other employees might get the impression that she could not work with white people if she employed another African, and told her "to rise above it". The Director was very disturbed by these comments and later explained to Mr. Inou that because of these perspectives she did not think that she had a future in Western Union in the long term, and therefore that it was, perhaps, meaningless for her to pursue further interviews with Mr. Inou as he no doubt would soon find himself in the same situation. Thus, Mr. Inou was dropped from the short list, apparently, because he was black. Local Campaign Activities:How Western Union Stole Christmas(Click on images for full size)
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Recent News Coverage: Make remittance transfer mechanism transparent, The Daily Star Western Union cuts 650 union jobs in Missouri, Texas, by Hugh Son, Bloomberg News Service OFW Boycotts in the Works, by Miko L. Morelos In UN's Corporate Frenzy, Western Union Dismisses Boycott, Coke Exonerates Itself, UNICEF Plays Footsie, by Matthew Russell Lee Exigen mejorar servicios de consulado mexicano, por Damaso Gonzalez Immigrants Call On Mexican Consulate To Do More To Prevent Deportations Immigrants reclaim remittance fees, by Shannah Kurland Western Union: Stealing So Much More Than Money, by Francis Calpotura Why we boycott Western Union, by Dania Flores-Heagney Group calls for Western Union boycott, by John Han Radio Segment on the KPFA Evening News Activist criticizes Western Union rates as unfair to immigrants, by Diane Dietz Power of Love and Money, by Francis Calpotura Clifton-based magazine helps immigrant writers, by Meredith Mandell Africa: Sending Money Home, by William Minter Boicot a Western Union por Manuel Ortiz Demandan poner orden en transacción de remesas, por Mauricio Pérez Inmigrantes contra Western Union, por Judith Torrea Immigrant groups working to make it cheaper to wire money home, by Satta Sarmah Groups protest money-transfer fees, by Tatiana Pina Making Migrant Dollars Go Far, by Marcela Sanchez
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