08-December-99 01:46 PM
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KOLAGE SOCIAL EVENT
Reminder:
BINGO!
TOMORROW!!! Thursday evening, December 9th. The Bingo festivities
begin at 7PM and will be held at the Ramada on Armour Drive.
Tickets are $10.00 each. (re ONLY 3 TICKETS LEFT!!!)
You can purchase the $200 jackpot game that evening on location
for $1.
You can purchase the $500 jackpot game that evening on location
for $2.
The THEME is Holiday, so feel free to come dressed in your most festive attire!!!
Please RSVP and pay in advance to Robert C. Marshall at X66200. Feel free to send Robert and e-mail for additional information, making sure to use his middle initial, C. (There are 3 Robert Marshall's in Lotus Notes!!!)
IN THE NEWS
(Feel free to respond to the addresses at the bottom of
this message. Let your voice be heard and let the power of your
spending dollars be felt!)
NEWS from the Human Rights Campaign
919 18th Street, NW, Suite 800
Washington, DC 20006
email: hrc@hrc.org
http://www.hrc.org
________________________________________________________
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, Dec. 6, 1999
MERGED EXXON-MOBIL CORPORATION ENDS DOMESTIC PARTNER BENEFITS AND POLICY BANNING DISCRIMINATION BASED ON SEXUAL ORIENTATION
Regressive Move Is Bad for Business, Will Hurt Workers, Says HRC
WASHINGTON - The newly merged Exxon Mobil Corp. has taken a huge step back in time and ended domestic partner benefits and Mobil's policy banning discrimination based on sexual orientation. In doing so, they may have become the first major U.S. employer ever to roll back a nondiscrimination policy and the second to end domestic partner benefits, according to the Human Rights Campaign.
"This move could become their Exxon Valdez of the new millennium," said HRC Communication Director David M. Smith. "Exxon clearly hasn't learned from past experience that creating a toxic mess is a lot easier than cleaning up the resulting damage. We urge Exxon to reevaluate their actions and pledge to treat all workers equally, with dignity and respect."
A source inside the new merged company told HRC that people currently enrolled in the domestic partner benefits program can continue to receive the benefits but no one else may join the plan - even employees who were previously eligible at Mobil Corp.
"The new company clearly does not believe in equal pay for equal work - because that's what these benefits are," said HRC Education Director Kim I. Mills, who oversees WorkNet, HRC's workplace project. "This move is bad for business, it's bad for employee morale and it demonstrates that Exxon Mobil's human resources policies are mired in the past." Preceding last week's $81 billion merger, Mobil Corp. offered domestic partner benefits --since 1998 -- while Exxon did not. The decision to end the benefits affects 121,000 employees. Exxon has also come under fire from its own shareholders recently for refusing to add sexual orientation to its non-discrimination policy. In May, advocates led by the Equality Project in New York mounted a proxy initiative that led to a vote by shareholders on Exxon's non-discrimination policy. The measure garnered 6 percent of the vote. The Equality Project will introduce a resolution this week to bring up a vote at the shareholders meeting expected to take place in spring 2000.
In April 1998, the Human Rights Campaign learned that Texas billionaire Ross Perot had cut off domestic partner benefits at Texas-based Perot Systems Inc. HRC criticized Perot publicly but he has never backed down from that ill-considered decision, according to Mills. "These two companies have placed themselves way outside the mainstream of American business," Mills said, noting that almost 3,000 U.S. employers currently offer domestic partner insurance benefits including more than 80 Fortune 500 companies. Some of the most successful and fastest-growing companies in the nation have taken this step, including Shell Oil, Amoco, Walt Disney Company, IBM, Kodak and Microsoft. (A complete list of employers offering domestic partner benefits is available at http://www.hrc.org/worknet.)
Municipal governments have also become leaders in the drive for basic workplace equality as several major cities have passed ordinances requiring contractors to offer equal health insurance benefits to the domestic partners of their workers.
On Nov. 22, the Seattle City Council unanimously passed an equal benefits bill, sponsored by City Councilwoman Tina Podlodowski. On Nov. 17, Los Angeles passed a similar measure, sponsored by Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg. Both bills were modeled after San Francisco's landmark Equal Benefits Ordinance.
In 1996, San Francisco became the first city to pass a law requiring companies doing business with the city or county to provide the same benefits to workers with domestic partners as they give to married employees. Since the measure went into effect in 1997, more than 2,000 new employers have instituted domestic partner benefits to come into compliance with that law.
The Human Rights Campaign is the largest national lesbian and
gay political organization, with members throughout the country.
It effectively lobbies Congress, provides campaign support and
educates the public to ensure that lesbian and gay Americans can
be open, honest and safe at home, at work and in the community.
Action Alert!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, Dec. 8, 1999
TELL NEWLY MERGED EXXON-MOBIL CORPORATION THAT THEIR
DISCRIMINATORY POLICY IS BAD BUSINESS
Exxon-Mobil's Regressive Policy will Hurt Workers, Says HRC
WASHINGTON - The Human Rights Campaign urges its 300,000 members
to contact the newly merged Exxon-Mobil Corp. today to express
displeasure about their new policy ending domestic partner
benefits and discontinuing Mobil's policy banning discrimination
based on sexual orientation. Exxon-Mobil's new policy may make
them the first major U.S. employer ever to roll back a
nondiscrimination policy and the second to end domestic partner
benefits. HRC asks members to inform the Exxon-Mobil Corp. that
their decision to treat gay and lesbian workers unfairly and
unequally is not acceptable, bad business and a prime example of
corporate irresponsibility.
**************************************************************************
Contact: L.R. Raymond, CEO, Exxon-Mobil Corp.
5959 Las Colinas Boulevard
Irving, TX 75039-2298
Phone: (972) 444-1000
Fax: (972) 444-1348
Exxon-Mobil Corp.
http://www.exxon.com/contact/index.html
Public Relations Department
Phone: (972) 444-1107
Fax: (972) 444-1138
For shareholder action or if you have a pension plan that holds
Exxon-Mobil shares:
Shelley Alpern Diane Bratcher
617-423-6655 ext. 248 212-870-2296
**************************************************************************
Almost 3,000 U.S. employers currently offer domestic partner
insurance benefits including more than 80 Fortune 500 companies.
Some of the most successful and fastest-growing companies in the
nation have taken this step, including Chevron, Shell Oil, BP
Amoco, Walt Disney Company, IBM, Kodak and Microsoft. (A complete
list of employers offering domestic partner benefits is available
at http://www.hrc.org/worknet.)
MISC.
If you have received this e-mail in error or would like to request an update or change in status concerning your e-mail address, please let me know. Thank you, David Beauchamp (x67741)