FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: MELINDA SHELTON, 202-331-0066 x767

NOW SET TO NAME NEW "MERCHANT OF SHAME" AS IT PROTESTS CORPORATE GIANTS FROM WALL STREET TO MAIN STREET

MONDAY MAY 12, 1997

WHO: National Organization for Women

WHAT: Lunch-time demonstrations in New York and Chicago

WHEN: Tuesday and Wednesday, May 20th and 21st Noon - 1:00 PM

WHERE:

New York on May 20th:
Smith Barney, Office of the CEO
388 Greenwich St.
New York, NY.

Chicago on May 21st:
Daly Plaza
Chicago, Ill.

NOW President Patricia Ireland and long time feminist activist Gloria Steinem will join the lead plaintiff in the unprecedented Smith Barney sexual harassment case for a lunch-time demonstration at the office of the brokerage firm's CEO Tuesday May 20. The New York demonstration will be followed the next day by a protest at Daly Plaza in Chicago, resuming a campaign that has been suspended since January, against Mitsubishi Motor Manufacturing of America, Inc.

Pamela Martens, one of the named plaintiffs in the class action law suit against Smith Barney, will be joined by NOW protesters at the office of Smith Barney CEO Jamie Dimon. The parent entity, the Travelers Company, is based there as well.

Smith Barney's discriminatory practices have earned it NOW's stamp as a "Merchant of Shame" in a nationwide campaign aimed at creating a women-friendly workplace. In the largest such suit against a Wall Street investment firm, 26 women have charged that sexual harassment and other discrimination took place at branch offices in 11 states. NOW is also targeting Smith Barney for imposing the industry practice of forcing women to relinquish their rights under equal employment opportunity laws and instead use industry-sponsored arbitrators to settle claims. The Women-Friendly Workplace Campaign is aimed at encouraging employers -- through education, public pressure and consumer advocacy -- to provide safe workplaces free of harassment, sexual assault and discrimination. NOW will to expand the campaign, taking it to Chicago on May 21 and crowning the second "Merchant of Shame" at a protest at Daly Plaza. A continuing investigation by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reveals that nearly 300 women have faced harassment and abuse at the hands of co-workers and supervisors at the auto manufacturing plant in Normal, Ill. In addition to the EEOC action, 29 women have sexual harassment charges pending against Mitsubishi in a private civil suit.

Mitsubishi disingenuously implied that the replacement of the top two Japanese officials of its US auto operations, Ohinouye and Takeuchi, is part of its effort to implement recommendations in the report authored by former Secretary of Labor, Lynn Martin. Both men will remain with Mitsubishi as "advisors" and Ohinouye will remain in Normal, Illinois. NOW helped spur the Martin report with its protest last year.

"Harassment and discrimination in the workplace is rampant. It is against the law. And it has to be stopped," says Ireland. "We are taking this campaign directly to employers throughout the country - from Wall Street to Main Street."

Growing attacks by politicians on affirmative action and equal opportunity laws have focused attention on government programs and policies. NOW is escalating its campaign against private industries, which are often more responsive to public pressure. Galvanizing the power of consumer protests NOW pledges to use the Women-Friendly Workplace Campaign to transform the corporate culture and demonstrate that discrimination is both bad business and bad for business.