Chip Bergh, the president and CEO of Levi Strauss & Co., announced the launch of a tripartite initiative to restrict Second Amendment rights — including the formation of a business arm of Michael Bloomberg’s controversial lobbyist group.
It will be called Everytown Business Leaders for Gun Safety.
He announced it Tuesday morning in Fortune, but its impact continues to reverberate today.
The first part of the company’s three-pronged approach will give more than a million dollars to establish the Safer Tomorrow Fund. This fund will funnel philanthropic grants to nonprofits and “youth activists who are working to end gun violence in America.”
Beneficiaries will include Live Free, Giffords: Courage to Fight Gun Violence, and Everytown for Gun Safety.
As part of its support for Live Free, the Levi Strauss Foundation will also “support a series of town halls in cities across the U.S. that are disproportionately impacted by gun violence,” according to the company’s description of the effort on its website.
The second part of Levi’s corporate activism is the formation of a businessperson’s arm of Michael Bloomberg’s controversial Everytown for Gun Safety lobbyist group. Bergh encouraged all CEOs and business leaders to join the newly forming coalition.
“Through our market footprint, our employee networks, our public communications platforms, and the impact we have as employers and job creators, America’s business leaders are well positioned to raise awareness of, support, and help implement responsible measures to reduce violence,” said a statement on Everytown’s website, on the formation of Everytown Business Leaders for Gun Safety.
The final portion of Levi’s approach involves employees. Levi’s will double the corporate match for individual employees’ donations to the Safer Tomorrow fund — and it will pay employees for 60 hours a year of volunteer political activism.
He also said that he is a former U.S. Army officer — and that he is “not here to suggest we repeal the Second Amendment or to suggest that gun owners aren’t responsible.”
Bergh noted in his announcement, among other things: “We are doubling our usual employee donation match to organizations aligned with our Safer Tomorrow Fund.”
Levi Strauss will begin doubling the amount it matches for employee donations to gun-control groups aligned and pushed employees to use their five hours a month in paid volunteer time at the gun-control groups.#2A https://t.co/KsDuKSiTVn
— Erik Larson (@Erik_L1965) September 5, 2018
Fascinating to me that companies are jumping in to such hot topics. Will Nike and Levis cave in the face of boycotts? https://t.co/O3aV5biy22
— Frances Robles (@FrancesRobles) September 5, 2018
He also said that he is a former U.S. Army officer — and that he is “not here to suggest we repeal the Second Amendment or to suggest that gun owners aren’t responsible.”
He further touted his company’s other at-the-time “unpopular” stands, including offering benefits to same-sex partners in the ’90s and pulling financial support from the Boy Scouts of America when it banned gay troop leaders as examples of the company “supporting the greater good.”
@LEVIS when are you bringing all your product manufacturers from Mexico and places like Indonesia back to America you know know lots of country people wear your jeans and lots carry guns bad business move just like Nike and NFL
— Chris Mcallister (@Chris0u24) September 5, 2018
Wranglers wear better anyway..no more Levis or Nike gifts, and back to school clothes for grandchildren. https://t.co/4TTMEzxNtr
— Sam's Friend (@SamsFriend1) September 5, 2018
Michele Blood is a Flemington, New Jersey-based freelance writer and a regular contributor to LifeZette.
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