The Sullivan Principles: a code of conduct for US companies in South Africa

This code of conduct for American-owned companies in South Africa was written by the Rev. Leon H. Sullivan of the Zion Baptist Church of Philadelphia in 1975. Companies signing the code agree to:

1. Nonsegregation of races in all eating, comfort, locker rooms, and work facilities.

2. Equal and fair employment practices for all employees.

3. Equal pay for all employees doing equal or comparable work for the same period of time.

4. Initiation and development of training programs that will prepare blacks, coloreds, and Asians in substantial numbers for supervisory, administrative, clerical, and technical jobs.

5. Increasing the number of blacks, coloreds, and Asians in management and supervisory positions.

6. Improving the quality of employees' lives outside the work environment in such areas as housing, transportation, schooling, recreation, and health facilities.

An ``amplification'' to the code in 1985 requires US companies to ``work to eliminate laws and customs which impede social and political justice.''

Signatories are charged an annual fee of from $1,200 to $8,400 based on worldwide sales, to help administer the program.

Each year, Arthur D. Little, a Cambridge, Mass., consulting firm, rates all signatories on their compliance. Last May, Mr. Sullivan said that if the apartheid system of racial discrimination was not abolished within two years, he would call for all American companies to leave South Africa.

-- D. C. S.

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