The Slippery Sullivan Principles

Compliance with the Sullivan Principles is the litmus test of corporate civility in South Africa. The six principles require the signatories to treat their black and white employees equally at the workplace and to work to improve conditions for Blacks, Asians and other minorities in general. Under these guidelines, first proposed in 1977, participating companies pledge equal pay, integrated facilities and special housing, education and training for their South African employees.

Named after their author, Leon Sullivan, a Philadelphia minister and General Motors director, the codes are said to be responsible for substantial workplace gains for non-whites working in U.S. industries. Many critics charge, however, that they have legitimized the U.S. corporate presence in what is clearly an unjust system.

For years companies have used the voluntary principles as an excuse to duck divestment. In a survey of the top 50 of the Fortune 500, most corporations doing business in South Africa were quick to point out that not only were they signatories of the Sullivan Principles but that they had received high ratings for their compliance with the code. It is claimed the principles have forced major improvements in working conditions for non-white: South Africans and are responsible for modest improvements in South African society.

"The impatience of people is understandable, but what many people don't realize is that a great deal has been achieved, such as the organization of black unions, and the repeal of the mixed marriage acts," said an Exxon spokesperson.

The only other option withdrawal or divestment is not a serious consideration and would do little for the people in whose name it is to occur, say corporate spokespeople.

"We believe that staying in South Africa will bring more equality than the largely symbolic act of withdrawing," said a Union Carbide spokesperson.

But real change has been painfully slow at best. Forced removals, pass book requirements and the denial of basic civil and human rights continue.

Currently 157 companies have adopted the Sullivan Principles. All but two Boeing Co. and U.S. Steel-of the top 50 of the Fortune 500 doing business in South Africa have signed on. Although the list of nonsignatoryes is incomplete, 28 of the Fortune 500 companies doing business in South Africa have not signed the principles, according to the Eighth Report On the Signatory Companies To the Sullivan Principles. This list of nonsignatories includes. Stauffer Chemical Co., Newmont Mining Corp., Kimberly-Clark Corp., Fuller Co., Chesebrough-Ponds and Bell & Howell Co.

For many, adopting the Sullivan Principles defuses public outrage and preempts economic retaliation that nonsignatories often suffer. Black South African trade unionists have characterized the Principles as corporate camouflage, and in the United States the divestment campaign is no longer waiting for change through example.

In the face of this increased pressure, an advisory group of companies in July 1984 helped Rev. Sullivan draft additional language that commits Sullivan Principle signatories to directly lobbying the South African government against apartheid.

This rule's unanimous adoption by the signatory firms on December 12, 1984 gives business a new public-relations weapon in its fight against disinvestment. The firms' acceptance of the new rule "was probably facilitated by the political atmosphere"' says Elizabeth Clark, an Upjohn Co. executive who helped draft it.

Despite charges that the Principles are more a public relations ploy than a force for peaceful change. Rev. Sullivan has not given up hope that the Botha regime will be transformed by pressure from U.S. multinationals.

Sullivan would like to see the code strengthened by making it mandatory and hopes that by asking signatories to challenge and lobby against each law that shapes apartheid faster paced change will be encouraged.

He too, however, realizes that the chances for failure are great. For the last six years, fundamental changes have been few and the regime has grown more brutal in dealing with opponents. Rev. Sullivan says he will continue to work through the code to push for an end to apartheid for the next two years, but after that time, if apartheid still has not been dismantled, he too will join those calling for a U.S. economic embargo of South Africa.

Sullivan Principles Non-segregation of the races in all eating, comfort and work facilities. Equal and fair employment practices for all employees. Equal pay for all employees doing equal or comparable work for the same period of time. Initiation of and development of training programs that will prepare, in substantial numbers, Blacks and other non-whites for supervisory, administrative, clerical and technical jobs. Increasing the number of Blacks and other non-whites in management and supervisory positions. Improving the quality of employees' lives outside the work environment in such areas as housing, transportation, schooling, recreation and health facilities.