USW oil workers from Tesoro refineries in Los Angeles and Anacortes traveled to San Antonio, TX today to present a shareholder resolution at the company’s annual shareholder meeting. The resolution pushed for increased transparency on the company’s political spending – particularly payments to organizations that engage in grassroots lobbying and indirect lobbying and the company’s membership and payments to organizations that write and endorse model legislation like the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).
In presenting the resolution, Norm Rogers from USW Local 675 said, “Transparency and accountability in corporate spending to influence public policy are in the best interests of Tesoro stockholders. Without a clear system ensuring accountability, corporate assets can be used to promote public policy objectives which may pose risks to our company.”
Rogers continued, “Tesoro is already under heightened scrutiny. According to a February Bloomberg Intelligence report, ‘The Golden State’s biggest fuel suppliers, led by Tesoro Corp. and Chevron Corp., face the biggest costs under California’s carbon cap-and-trade system, among expenses that may top $3 billion a year for the whole industry…That may cost Tesoro, the state’s largest emitter, more than $700 million annually, about 20 percent of its current operating expenses.’”
Similar shareholder resolutions have been submitted for votes at ExxonMobil Chevron’s shareholder meetings later this year.
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