Nike Makes It Official: Quits Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors

They’re leaving in droves!

Today, Nike announced it was quitting the Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors to protest the Chamber’s opposition to climate change and clean energy legislation. That makes it the fifth high-profile corporation to call out the giant business organization in nearly as many days.

On Monday, Exelon Corp. said it wouldn’t renew its membership. Last week, PG&E (one of California’s biggest utilities), PNM Resources and Johnson & Johnson (manufacter of Band-Aids, Tylenol and other consumer products) also quit the group. Read Politico’s piece on Nike’s decision.

Here’s Nike's official statement:

September 30, 2009

Nike believes US businesses must advocate for aggressive climate change legislation and that the United States needs to move rapidly into a sustainable economy to remain competitive and ensure continued economic growth.

As we've stated, we fundamentally disagree with the US Chamber of Commerce on the issue of climate change and their recent action challenging the EPA is inconsistent with our view that climate change is an issue in need of urgent action.

We believe businesses and their representative associations need to take an active role to invest in sustainable business practices and innovative solutions.

It is important that US companies be represented by a strong and effective Chamber that reflects the interests of all its members on multiple issues. We believe that on the issue of climate change the Chamber has not represented the diversity of perspective held by the board of directors.

Therefore, we have decided to resign our board of directors position. We will continue our membership to advocate for climate change legislation inside the committee structure and believe that we can better influence policy by being part of the conversation. Moving forward we will continue to evaluate our membership.

Comments (3) «

Everyone is giving up on the conservatives because they will not face reality and have nothing to offer.

1

SandyH on September 30, 2009 at 02:54 PM

The US Chamber of Commerce thought that all corporations and wealthy CEO's were of like mind as they are---Greedy, money hogs.

I guess they have some members now telling them that they find other issues more important than just raping the American public and hauling in more money!

The US Chamber is a huge right wing org, and needs to be knocked down to size.

2

PamB on October 1, 2009 at 08:11 AM

It is nice to see that the people still have some influence on the corporations, although I'm sure Nike sees it more as a business/PR move. Either way, it's a step in the right direction.

3

Moving_Left on October 2, 2009 at 10:36 AM

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