43% of Commercial Metals Shares Voted in Favor of Proposal Encouraging Company to modify Equal Employment Opportunity Policy to include sexual orientation; one in a series of high votes on this issue

(BOSTON, MA) – Approximately 43% of shareholders voted in favor of a shareholder proposal asking Commercial Metals (NYSE: CMC) to amend its nondiscrimination policy to explicitly include sexual orientation at the company's annual meeting of shareholders on January 25, 2007. This vote total followed on the heels of a 55% support vote at Micron Technology (NYSE: MU), announced in the company's 10-Q on January 16, 2007.

Walden Asset Management was the lead filer of the resolution at Commercial Metals which was formally moved at the annual meeting by Pat Tharp of the Social Action Council of Dallas. The New York City Employees' Retirement System (NYCERS) was the lead filer of the Micron resolution which was formally moved at the annual meeting by Zack Wright of the Pride Foundation.

"These vote totals are unprecedented and indicate an explosion of investor support around this issue. Only Cracker Barrel, after a protracted campaign, and JC Penney, where management supported the resolution, have seen higher shareholder approval," stated Meredith Benton, Research Associate at Boston-based Walden Asset Management. "We consider these vote totals to be a harbinger of the coming resolution season and expect to see high votes at companies such as ExxonMobil, Leggett & Platt and Expeditors, companies that persist in holding policies that do not explicitly offer equal protections," stated Zack Wright, Chair of the Shareholder Activism Committee at Pride Foundation.

Commercial Metals and Micron are on a shrinking list of major companies without inclusive nondiscrimination policies. More than 85 percent of Fortune 500(R) companies explicitly bar discrimination based on sexual orientation, according to Human Rights Campaign, including 98 of the Fortune 100. Major steel companies with inclusive policies, as requested in the resolution at Commercial Metals, include Alcoa, Ball Corp., Crown Holdings, Newmont Mining, Nucor Corp., Owens-Illinois, Ryerson and U.S. Steel, according to Human Rights Campaign. Other semiconductor companies with sexual orientation in their nondiscrimination policy, as requested in the resolution at Micron Technology, include Intel, SimpleTech, STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments, and ZiLOG Inc.

Sixteen states, the District of Columbia, and more than 130 cities, including Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas, currently have laws prohibiting employment discrimination based on sexual orientation. Of the job openings Commercial Metals had posted on its website on January 4, 2007, forty-one percent were located in cities or states with prohibitions against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Because state and local laws are inconsistent with respect to employment discrimination, shareholders believe the company would benefit by a consistent, corporate-wide policy to enhance efforts to prevent discrimination and resolve complaints internally. Ms. Benton elaborated, "Investors are concerned that, without an explicit corporate-wide policy, miscommunication and inconsistencies increase the risk of discrimination, harassment and litigation."

National polls consistently find more than three-quarters of Americans support equal rights in the workplace for gay men, lesbians and bisexuals. For example, in a Gallup poll conducted in June 2001, 85% of respondents favored equal opportunity in employment for gays and lesbians. Moreover, according to a survey by Harris Interactive and Witeck- Combs, 41% of gay and lesbian workers in the United States report facing some form of hostility or harassment on the job; almost one out of every 10 gay or lesbian adults also stated that they had been fired or dismissed unfairly from a previous job, or pressured to quit a job because of their sexual orientation. Employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is believed to diminish employee morale and productivity.

Ms. Benton added, "Firms with inclusive employment policies help ensure a respectful and productive atmosphere for all employees and enhance their competitive advantage in recruiting and retaining employees from the widest pool of talent. Commercial Metals, for instance, is competing for employees in the state of Texas against companies with inclusive policies, such as Affiliated Computer Services, AMR Corp., Centex, Dean Foods, Omni Hotels, RadioShack, Southwest Airlines, Tenet Healthcare, Texas Instruments and TXU."

Walden Asset Management (http://www.waldenassetmgmt.com) is the socially responsive investment division of Boston Trust & Investment Management Company. Founded in 1975, Walden has been a pioneer in socially responsive portfolio management on behalf of individual and institutional clients. Walden blends a disciplined investment style and expertise in social screening with a commitment to using its leverage as an investor to improve corporate social performance.