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Fwd: Disney Meeting Draws Protester



Subject: Fwd: Disney Meeting Draws Protesters

Disney shuns Burma...


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Forwarded message:
>From:	AOLNewsProfiles@xxxxxxx
Date: 97-02-25 14:08:22 EST

<HTML><PRE><I>.c The Associated Press</I></PRE></HTML>

      By E. SCOTT RECKARD
      ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) - Protesters outside Walt Disney Co.'s
annual shareholders meeting Tuesday accused the entertainment
empire of turning top executives into multimillionaires at the
expense of overseas workers and people living near its theme parks.
      Outside the Anaheim hockey rink where Disney's Mighty Ducks
play, dozens of protesters, including dissident shareholders and
employees, waved signs in support of an anti-sweatshop resolution.
      They blasted Disney Chairman Michael Eisner's new contract -
which could easily be worth $300 million over the next decade - and
the $100 million-plus severance package awarded to Michael Ovitz,
an Eisner pal who spent only 14 months as Disney president.
      Signs contrasted those figures with the wages of foreign workers
who make Disney-licensed merchandise.
      ``Made in Haiti. Twenty-eight cents an hour,'' read one sign.
      ``It would take a Haitian 16.8 years to earn Eisner's hourly
income of $9,783,'' said another carried by Diane Rice.
      The retired school librarian also accused local officials of
caving in to Disney demands for concessions on the stadiums where
its pro sports teams play and on improvements needed so that Disney
can build a second theme park next to Disneyland.
      ``I'm concerned that the citizens of Anaheim are going to become
slaves of Disney,'' she said. ``I'm becoming a slave laborer to
Disney.''
      The anti-sweatshop resolution asked Disney to monitor more
closely the foreign plants that make products bearing its name, one
of the best-known of any company in the world.
      Disney opposed it, saying current safeguards are enough. It also
opposed a resolution requiring it to re-evaluate its compensation
policies following disclosures of the Eisner and Ovitz contracts.
      Sponsors of the measure want to get enough shareholder votes - 3
percent - to keep the measure on the ballot next year.
      Conrad MacKerron, director of social research for Progressive
Asset Management, an Oakland, Calif., investment fund that
sponsored the resolutions, said Monday that his goal was keeping
them before Disney shareholders next year.
      ``If we get 3 percent ..., we'll be happy,'' he said.
      MacKerron acknowledged that over the past year Disney had
responded to complaints about foreign work conditions by announcing
it would shun Burma, a country criticized by human rights groups,
and adopting its own internal reviews of offshore plants.
      He said, though, the actions came too late and only after public
pressure increased. With its reputation to protect, Disney should
take the lead on the sweatshop issue by allowing outside groups to
monitor how Disney-branded products are made by 4,000 contractors,
he said.
      ``We're talking about a social audit,'' MacKerron said. ``Having
human rights groups come in and act as an outside arbiter.''
      Eisner appeared at a Burbank news conference Monday announcing a
new 10-year, five-picture partnership with Pixar Animation Studio,
which jointly produced the animated comedy ``Toy Story'' with
Disney.
      Eisner declined to comment on the shareholder issues except for
a swipe at the California Public Employee Retirement System, one of
a number of big pension-plan shareholders that oppose Eisner's pay
package or the re-election of five Disney directors.
      ``Calpers may want to be on your board,'' Eisner jokingly warned
Steve Jobs, Pixar's chief executive.
      AP-NY-02-25-97 1404EST
      <HTML><PRE><I><FONT COLOR="#000000 SIZE=2>Copyright 1997 The Associated
Press.  The information 
contained in the AP news report may not be published, 
broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without 
prior written authority of The Associated Press.<FONT COLOR="#000000
SIZE=3></I></PRE></HTML>


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