Pressure on Alabama HB 56 

from Patty Kupfer, America's Voice Education Fund

Last week, I had the privilege of representing America’s Voice Education Fund-- alongside Renata Soto of the National Council of La Raza and Fred Redmond of the United Steel Workers and the AFL-CIO -- at the Daimler AG shareholder meeting in Berlin, Germany.

Renata spoke on behalf of our delegation, bringing our message powerfully to the shareholders and the Daimler managing board. When she asked if they would abide by their own corporate principles and call for the repeal of HB 56, Renata got perhaps the loudest applause of the day from the 6,000 shareholders in the room!

Daimler responded, offering their first public comment on HB 56 since the law passed. (They didn’t say anything about the law last year, even when one of their German Mercedes-Benz executives was arrested in Alabama for not having his papers on him.)

Daimler didn’t commit to calling for repeal, but they did say they’re in conversations with the Alabama business community and with US Congressional representatives about the law and waiting for “progress on these discussions.” (Read: they’re worried about the law, too.)

This was an important first step toward getting Mercedes-Benz involved in the fight to repeal HB 56. But we need to keep the pressure on so that Daimler, Hyundai and Honda all take a stand on the Alabama law.

Stay tuned and thanks so much for your support,

Patty Kupfer
America's Voice Education Fund