Transnational Institute for Grassroots Research and Action (TIGRA): Western Union: Stealing So Much More Than Money
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DECEMBER 10, 2007
11:22 AM
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CONTACT: Transnational Institute for Grassroots Research and Action (TIGRA)
Debayani Kar, (530) 469-3243, debi.kar@gmail.com
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WASHINGTON, DC- December 10 - On Human Rights Day, immigrant groups affirm their plan to intensify the boycott campaign against Western Union into 2008. Activities are being held around the country, including in Providence, Minneapolis, and New Brunswick. Groups are boycotting the company until Western Union: partners in genuine community reinvestment, lowers its fees, and establishes fairer exchange rates. Immigrants depend on money transfers – totaling $300 billion this year – to send money home for food, medicine, and other basic necessities.
"Since the September 10 boycott launch, we have not heard an adequate response from Western Union," said Francis Calpotura, Executive Director of the Transnational Institute for Grassroots Research and Action, the immigrant network coordinating the boycott. "Though Western Union announced the 'Our World, Our Family' program in the wake of the boycott, it is merely a repackaging of their existing initiatives. The company's community reinvestment has increased only to $0.49 per every $100 in profit – even Wal-Mart invests $2.30." Calpotura adds, "Western Union's inaction will be met by a more determined action by immigrants in 2008."
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 advocates are demanding that Western Union 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. The network has entered negotiations with other companies in the money transfer industry who are interested in signing a TCBA with TIGRA.
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. Immigrants are boycotting Western Union, to stop this predatory relationship with low-income, predominantly minority, communities. The company's annual profits of more than $1 billion come directly from these communities.
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. As the proposed resolution states, existing corporate practices "increase the risk our Company faces in the competitive consumer market." Given that Western Union has seen its profits dwindle this year and its stock prices fall, it may be time for the company to generate business the old-fashioned way: listen to its customers. Our immigrant business depends on it.
For more information, see www.boycottwesternunion.net .
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.
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