Posted on 10/06/2007 7:59:13 AM PDT by got_moab?
PROVIDENCE — Providence has become the first municipality in the nation to endorse a boycott of money transfer giant Western Union.
Activist groups nationwide have been organizing small protests against the company for the past month, charging that Western Union’s fees are too high, and that the company does not give back enough to the people and countries it serves.
City Council members estimate that Western Union handles 55 percent of money transfers to and from Providence, and last night, the 15-member City Council unanimously approved a resolution supporting the campaign.
“Cities around the country are looking towards the example Providence is setting tonight,” said Francis Calpotura, the founder and executive director of Transnational Institute for Grassroots Research and Action, the Oakland, Calif.-based group that is leading the protests against Western Union.
“They have a responsibility. They are making money from our neighborhood. They should bring some of that money back… I’ll be expecting other cities and towns across America to follow,” said Councilman Miguel Luna, who sponsored the bill.
The resolution does not bind the city to any specific action against Western Union; it simply signals support for the national effort and urges the company to “become a genuine partner of sustainable development of the communities they serve.”
According to World Bank figures from 2005, people from around the world sent $205 billion abroad. Wire companies, Western Union chief among them, earned $30 billion from the exchange.
Western Union offers same-day transfer service that arrives almost instantly for $14.99 per $1,000 and a next-day service for $9.99 per $1,000. The company has 312,000 locations in more than 200 countries.
TIGRA’s organizers say that Western Union gives less money to charity per dollar of profit than companies like Wal-Mart. And considering how deeply entrenched Western Union is in the developing world, they want the company to shoulder more responsibility.
“We want Western Union, as the leader in the industry, to provide the leadership,” Calpotura said.
Western Union Spokesman Daniel Diaz said that the 150-year-old Colorado-based company, which went public last year, conducts extensive philanthropy and disaster-relief programs. He said that the Western Union Foundation has disbursed $40 million to nonprofit organizations worldwide since 2001. It has given out another $900,000 in scholarships worldwide, donated $1.5 million to victims of Hurricane Katrina, provided $500,000 for cochlear implants for deaf children in Mexico, and donated $100,000 to buy fishing boats for Thai fishermen whose boats were destroyed during the 2005 tsunami.
Diaz said that the company has met with TIGRA representatives twice, but have made little headway.
“The group does not want to understand what our record is,” Diaz said.
“A lot of its got to do with the fact that the group does not understand the dynamics of the industry,” Diaz said.
He said that while some of the concerns the group have are endemic to the money-transfer industry, Western Union is being singled out because it is the biggest and the most famous.
“We have an established brand. We have a global presence,” he said. “We are a target because of our brand.”
Councilman Luna acknowledged that Western Union is the focus because of its market position and history. But he said that’s the way to get the entire industry to change — focus on the leader.
“They are the largest, that’s why we’re focusing on them,” he said. “But if the big one is willing to negotiate, it does send a message, not only to Western Union but to companies like them.”
Diaz said that Western Union has not had a chance to review the Providence resolution yet. But he said that the company is happy to come here and give its side of the story to the Providence City Council.
charging that Western Union’s fees are too high, and that the company does not give back enough to the people and countries it serves.
Jesus H Christ in a taxi. Mother Russia, right here, right now.
The reason I won’t use Western Union is that they don’t give a crap at assisting one if fraud has been perpetuated on either party.
I’ll bet they are a great asset to terrorists and money launderers.
Commies!!
A quick check of Western Union's annual report shows that it paid $421.1 million of income taxes on $1.3351 billion of pretax profit. There's nothing like a 31% "give back" rate.
They are the ONLY payment accepted by certain Nigerian dealers.
On EBay, anything that requires payment by WU has an implied Poison Label. Only a fool would buy something that way. It is a cash transfer with no recourse whatsoever-Exactly the same thing as mailing cash.
Bet the charities are eco whackos.
A quick check of Western Union’s annual report shows that it paid $421.1 million of income taxes on $1.3351 billion of pretax profit. There’s nothing like a 31% “give back” rate....
and the largest percentage of the profit was from ILLEGALS wiring the US money to mexico!!!!!
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Sites like this one have probably saved the public millions:
http://scams.flipshark.com/westernunion.html
These people are idiots. Western Union contributes to the community and in direct proportion to the extent the community uses Western Unions. It provides employment for enough workers to service the local Western Union customers.
To say accept the argument that Western Union does not contribute to the Providence community, could, with equal lack of logic, be used to conclude that neither does the local Barnes and Noble store, or the Target store, or the Wall Mart store or any other outlet in any service type industry.
What do you want to bet that the real targeted “lack of assistance” that “concerns” these “advocates” is the “illegal immigrant community”?
I have worked overseas many years and used check to bank with problems. Sent money DHL with problems. I never had a problem with WU and my family did not have to wait three to five days for the check to clear either. God bless WU.
Since the early 1990’s, The World Workers Party, working through Unite Here Local 217 and the SEIU local, in providence Rhode Island, have been actively trying and succeeding to unionize illegal aliens. It was the test city for the national campaign to unionize illegals. The continuous scandals in the corrupt Dem machine in the city and state has allowed the agitators from those campaigns to come into positions of power inside Providence.
This resolution is another pay off from over 2 decades of footwork by self-described openly Communist organizers in the streets of Providence and surrounding municipalities..
The groups that got this in Providence are the same people who attend conferences together with the “Living Wage” activists who won that fight in Los Angeles city council.
The activists work on base fears of the undereducated. The activists themselves, outside a few leaders and incredibly dedivated, are themselves undereducated. Western Union and wire transfer stores are the perfect boogeyman. They provide a financial service that doesn’t provide any physical goods, they are a perfect “Daddy Warbucks”, a perfect “Gringo Oppressor”, the perfect “Capitalist Pig inside Marxist ideology”. Wire Transfers become a form of oppressive taxation upon a group that would otherwise pay no tax at all. Arguments from Trotsky and Lenin regarding wealth from the backs of the peasants, and the evil capitalists, all work well in the narrative the activists put together.
That any elected or appointed government official in the United States would give any creedence, lip service, or even dignify these people with a response is beyond disgust. Those who do are the kind of scheming sociopaths that should be far removed from any strings of governmental power.
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