Category: Newsletter June 2020

Editorial note

Dear readers,

just in time for today’s BASF Annual Meeting, we have once again summarized our arguments in two short videos, written a press release, submitted countermotions against the approval of activities of the Management and the Supervisory Board and have asked a number of questions.

In the spirit of this year’s Annual General Meeting – which is virtual and unfortunately offers hardly any interactive possibilities – the editorial of the third edition of the newsletter pursues the question of what actually constitutes a dialogue?

By definition, it should be a mutual exchange of arguments for the purpose of getting to know the respective points of view. Full article

It Cannot be Business as Usual with Changed Leadership

Statement by Bishop Jo Seoka to the Shareholders and Board of BASF, Virtual AGM 2020

We have been attending the AGM of BASF since 2015 as representatives of the Marikana and members of the „Plough back the fruits“ campaign. We have been consistent and our demands have remained the same. This shows that not much has changed for the workers and the communities around Marikana since the massacre, that claimed the lives of 34 miners and left hundreds with permanent injuries on the 16th August 2012.

Marikana is real and should be considered as the turning point in the history of the Platinum belt in South Africa. Full article

Statement of the campaign, virtual Annual Meeting of BASF 2020

For the sixth time since 2015, our campaign “Plough Back the Fruits” has submitted a countermotion to the Annual Meeting of Shareholders, arguing not to approve the actions of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF. The campaign is committed to compensating the survivors, injured and unjustly arrested people from Marikana, upholding the human rights of South African mine workers and their families.

As a reminder: in Marikana in the South African platinum mining area, 34 miners were murdered by the South African police on August 16, 2012. They went on strike for wage increases, better working conditions and decent living conditions in the informal settlements around the mines. Full article

For corporations like BASF, a supply chain law is needed

Press release: Protests on the occasion the Annual General Meeting of BASF on 18 June 2020

Ludwigshafen, Heidelberg, Cologne, Hamburg, Johannesburg, Berlin – This year’s virtual Annual Meeting of BASF on June 18 will be accompanied by protests outside the company’s headquarters in Ludwigshafen and online. The international network Plough Back the Fruits is calling for a binding supply chain law that will finally get companies like BASF to address human rights violations in their global supply chains. In view of the Corona pandemic, the network is asking BASF to forego the payment of a dividend.

Bishop Jo Seoka of the Bench Marks Foundation in South Africa explains by video message on the occasion of the Annual Meeting 2020: “Over the past five years, we have attended BASF’s Annual Meeting and presented our demands. Full article

Our countermotions BASF AGM 2020

Re agenda item 2: Adoption of a resolution on the appropriation of profit

The Association of Ethical Shareholders Germany proposes that no dividend be distributed. Instead, the entire profit retained for 2019 is to be used as a provision for

  • for a fund to combat the corona pandemic and mitigate its economic consequences
  • for the creation of added value for society;
  • for maintaining jobs instead of reducing them;
  • for the establishment of a fund to compensate the widows, survivors and injured in the Marikana massacre

Rationale:

In the middle of the corona crisis, which is accompanied by great uncertainty for the economy and society, BASF SE wants to increase the dividend from 3.20 to 3.30 euros per share. Full article