Ford Shareholders Get First Opportunity Ever To Voice Concern over Health Care Reform
Investor Vote Received Green Light from Securities & Exchange Commission

DEARBORN, MI///May 8th, 2007 ///Ford shareholders will finally address the impact of healthcare costs on Ford's bottom line at the Company's annual meeting on May 10. The Securities & Exchange Commission allowed the vote after years of denying shareholder attempts to address the health care crisis in the United States. The resolution was filed by the Dominican Sisters of Adrian, Michigan, a member of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR).

Margaret Weber, coordinator of corporate responsibility for the Dominican Sisters of Adrian, Michigan, said "American business can not continue to bear the burden of the U.S. health care system. It is a system moving in the wrong direction. Costs are rising. The number of people without insurance are rising. Overhead, waste, and administrative costs are rising. As Ford shareowners, we are asking our company how they will respond to this ongoing and growing burden. This is not about one company or one health plan. It is about the global competitiveness of the American companies in which we invest."

The resolution, written by the Nathan Cummings Foundation and filed at seven companies, will also be voted on at Wal-Mart Stores at their meeting on June 1st. It reads:

Shareholders request that the company report (at reasonable cost and omitting proprietary information) on the implications of rising health care expenses and how it is positioning itself to address this public policy issue without compromising the health and productivity of its workforce. The report should be completed by June 30, 2007 and need not address specific benefit offerings.

The SEC is allowing five companies - 3M, Federated, Kohl's, Target, and General Motors - to omit the resolution from their shareholder ballots. Wal-Mart did not ask the SEC for permission to omit the resolution. The SEC has not provided ICCR its reasoning as to why the resolution will move forward at Ford and not at General Motors.

The resolutions are part of a multi-faceted health care campaign by ICCR, a coalition of faith-based institutions, denominations, pension funds, foundations, and other institutional investors. In addition to filing resolutions, ICCR has articulated Principles for Health Care Reform and published a report compiling the health care reform positions of Protestant, Jewish, and Catholic religious traditions.

"In the decade since the failure of the Clinton reform plan, the faith community has continued to call for accessible and affordable health care for all people in a just and compassionate health care system. Now, we are using the financial and moral power of faith-based investors to encourage American business to also address this issue. Shareholders interests and the public interest here are aligned - we need comprehensive health care reform in this country," said Catherine Rowan, a corporate responsibility consultant whose clients include Trinity Health and the American Baptist Church Home Mission Society. Rowan serves as the co-chair of ICCR's Access to Health Care Working Group.

About ICCR

The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility is a 35-year-old international coalition of 275 faith-based institutional investors including denominations, religious communities, pension funds, healthcare corporations, foundations and dioceses with combined portfolios worth an estimated $110 billion. ICCR seeks to build a more just and sustainable society by integrating social values into corporate and investor decisions. ICCR is one of the foremost shareholder advocacy organizations in the world. More detailed information about shareholder resolutions is available from ICCR's Ethvest, the comprehensive, on-line, subscription-based, ethical investor database, and at www.iccr.org.

Note to Editors

Shareholder resolutions may be filed by any shareholder holding $2000 worth of company stock for a period of one year. Companies who feel resolutions are not appropriate may ask the staff of the SEC for permission to exclude or omit the resolution from their shareholder ballots. The SEC grants such permission if the resolution is false and misleading, deals with a personal grievance, deals with the ordinary business of the company, or for a number of other reasons.

CONTACT: Dan Rosan, 212-870-2317 or Dan Klotz, 917-438-4613

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