Subject: Re: SEC Moves to Eliminate Shareholder Rights!!!

Date:    11/21/97 10:25 AM
     
     
>
>
> Chairman Arthur Leavitt
> Securities and Exchange Commission 
> 450 5th Street NW
> Washington, D.C. 20549
>
> Dear Chairman Leavitt:
>
> I am writing to make known my serious objection to the SEC's 
> proposed rules (S7-25-97).  These rules, if adopted, would
> seriously undermine the shareholder process and make large
> corporations even less accountable for unethical or questionable 
> actions.
     
> Today's shareholder process is a responsible one and a powerful tool 
> of
> democracy.  Shareholder participation in corporate governance has led 
> to
> many important changes in corporate behavior.  For example: the 
> establishment
> of clear standards for corporate environmental behavior, divestment in 
>
> South
> Africa, and an end to the use of child labor and corporate governance, 
>
> to name a few.
>
> The shareholder process allows for dialogue between shareholders and 
> corporate decision-makers and helps find real solutions to urgent
> social,
>
> environmental, labor and human rights issues. The following provisions 
>
> are especially problematic:
>
> *  The new rules would block shareholder resolutions that address less 
>
> than 3% or $10 million of a company's business.  This provision would 
> effectively eliminate many emerging issues or business practices that 
> are not easily measured in dollars such as sweatshop labor or
> pollution.
>
> The new rules provide an automatic qualification for any resolution 
> sponsored by the owners of 3% of a company's shares of stock.  For 
> most
> Fortune 500 companies, 3% of the shares means more than $1 billion 
> worth
> of stock, which means only the biggest investors could wield this kind 
> of
> clout. This is grossly discriminatory.
     
        Please act to maintain the current system of shareholder access,
it provides checks and balances where there are already too few.
     
> Sincerely,
> Eric Winder D.C., 674 N. Perry Hwy, Mercer, PA 16137