Boycott Western Union!

TIGRA Launches New Front in Corporate Accountability Campaign

Forty 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.

The “fringe banking industry” includes check cashers, payday loans, and money transfer services that largely function as financial institutions in low-income communities, especially with high concentrations of immigrants. Filling the void created by the disinvestment (and disinterest) of mainstream financial institutions in these communities, the industry is notorious for exacting predatory fees and interest rates on the most economically vulnerable. In Oakland, for example, money transfer companies (led by Western Union) made close to $10 million in fees and commissions in one year alone. “They take, take, take, and don’t give anything back!” says Jennifer Bowlin, a volunteer at the Native American Health Center, at a leadership meeting on July 18, 2008.

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.

21 July 2008

The 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.

Our probe into the matter concludes that Western Union's diversity policies seem to stop short of the inclusion of black people within the company at the corporate level. There are only two (2) black employees out of more than 100 in the office in Vienna, the center of Western Union's operations in Europe, Africa and Asia. Promotions at the corporate level seem to be reserved primarily for Whites and Asians. There are no black people among the senior staff on the Board or on the corporate management team. This leaves the black employees with no possibility to lobby within the organisation.

We understand that Western Union's web site advocates a desire to be seen as a diverse company that practices cultural inclusion. We also truly believe that this may be the case when it comes to Western Union's customers. African Diasporas are seen as very attractive remitters, and the fees they pay to remit money to Africa are a crucial part of what helps Western Union achieve attractive results, promoting healthy shareholder value and helping to pay out attractive bonuses. In March 2008, Western Union posted their annual earnings. Western Union's revenue grew 10% to $4.9 billion with an operating income of $ 1.3 billion and a strong operating income margin of 27%. We can assume that a significant operating profit comes from customers who are African or of African descent working in Europe, Africa and America remitting money to take care of their families and loved ones. Although Western Union enjoys the lucrative patronage of Africans and people of African descent –making very decent profits from them -- black employees of Western Union are not treated as equals or in the same manner as their White or Asian colleagues.

The African Diaspora is very large in the US, UK, France and several countries in Europe, Africa and around the globe. However, the same inclusion does not seem to be in practice with the black employees in the company. Frankly we have come to the conclusion that blacks are deliberately kept out of the company at the corporate level. Our probe notes that there is only one black VP in the entire organisation and although Western Union is more or less forced to have African management at a local level these managers have little or no chance to move further up the ranks within the corporation.

As the Austrian National Coordination of the European Network Against Racism, it is our task to confront racism in all its manifestations and to counter it effectively. The outcome of our probe of Western Union is that there are discrepancies between the company's practices and its official diversity policy. We hope that steps will be taken to rectify this situation so that further action can be avoided on all sides.

Sincerely,

Dr. Chibo Onyeji
Austrian National Coordination Representative to ENAR
Board Member of ENAR
Vice President, European Network Against Racism (ENAR)
www.enar-eu.org

TIGRA Launches New Front in Corporate Accountability Campaign

Evidence of Racist Practices within Western Union's Austrian Offices

Local Campaign Activities:

San Francisco Bay Area

Providence, RI

Minneapolis, MN

New York

Los Angeles, CA

How Western Union Stole Christmas

(Click on images for full size)