Did you know that an ethical awareness prize is awarded among the giants of industry, each year?

This year´ s winner is .....................

http://ethisphere. com/wme2009/

 An interesting article.  Having carried out many trips to China to inspect factories, there are some surprises on the list!  They must have cleaned up their acts since then!

 So much for the credibility of that organization.....

A July 2008 investigation by Australian Channel 7 News found a large number of cases involving forced labour in one of the biggest Nike apparel factories. The factory located in Malaysia was filmed by an undercover crew who found instances of squalid living conditions and forced labour. Nike have since stated that they will take corrective action to ensure the continued abuse does not occur.

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Caterpillar

An article in the Chicago Tribune describes how Caterpillar got fed up with its ever-rising health care costs. It decided that its pharmacy arrangements were "not adding value, but just higher prices." That led to a contract with Walmart to offer generic drugs to Caterpillar employees for free if obtained at Walmart or Sam´s Club!

This is a straightforward business deal. Caterpillar, which is self-insured, lowers its drug costs. Walmart gets additional customers coming into its stores.

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Over the objections of church groups, peace organizations and human rights activists, President Barack Obama decided to return to Illinois to visit the headquarters of the Caterpillar company, which for years has violated international law, U.S. law and its own code of conduct by selling its D9 and D10 bulldozers to Israel.

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And their top pick...Accenture

Published on Tuesday, May 27, 2003 by the Associated Press 
Offshore Companies Do $1 Billion in Business with US Government 
by Jonathan D. Salant
 
WASHINGTON -- Companies that reduced their U.S. tax bill by incorporating overseas did $1 billion worth of business with the federal government last year, an Associated Press computer analysis of federal contracts showed.

The Bermuda-based consulting company Accenture Ltd., a spinoff of the former Big Five accounting firm Arthur Andersen, was the biggest federal customer. It received $662 million in contracts between Oct. 1, 2001, and Sept. 30, 2002, mostly from the Transportation Security Administration.

The engineering firm Foster Wheeler Ltd. received $293.2 million. Ingersoll-Rand Co. Ltd., which boasts that its equipment helped carve Mount Rushmore, received $7.6 million.

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I think the key thing to remember here is that the companies weren´t nominated for their ethics, they entered themselves.  There must be thousands of more ethical companies out there that haven´t bothered to enter.  I would say this is the only way some of the companies on that list are ever going to get an award for ethical issues . . . what a joke .