CORE BLIMEY!

The nice people at a number of very sane organisations have come up with a coalition of their own - the CORE coalition - in an attempt to tackle the corporate issue. Having read their proposals, some feel rather strongly that it doesn't go half far enough - for example, their aims don't include the issue of 'Corporate Personhood' (by which a corporation can claim the right to 'free speech' for example), and there's no way to suggest how the reforms they're looking for could possibly be monitored. Others may find it encouraging to think that the issue is at least getting some of the attention it deserves....

THE CORE COALITION

The Corporate Responsibility (CORE) Coalition, founded by Amnesty International, Christian Aid, Friends of the Earth, New Economics and Traidcraft will be lobbying selected MPs to take up the CORE Bill for this years Ballot. They are are campaigning for key elements of Corporate Responsibility to become law by the end of the next parliamentary session - but this will only happen if the Corporate Responsibility Bill is taken up in the Ballot.

For this success they need your help!
On Thursday 4th December, the day of the Ballot, they need you, and if possible your members, to send a letter to the targeted MPs successful in the Ballot, asking them to take up our Bill. The 20 balloted MPs will be swamped with requests to take up various issues - we need your help to convince them that Corporate Responsibility is the best choice.
Your letter, they say, will be vital, as it will help to show the widespread support for binding Corporate Responsibility laws.

The proposed Corporate Responsibility Bill has three main objectives:

• Mandatory Reporting - Companies must prepare and publish reports on their social and environmental performance;
• Duty of Care - Directors of companies shall have a “duty of care” for their company’s environmental and social impacts - not just a financial duty to shareholders;
• Liability - Where corporations cause serious environmental damage or direct harm to workers, consumers or communities, the company shall be held liable in UK courts. This should be the case for UK companies irrespective of whether they caused the damage within the UK, or abroad.

They need all the balloted MPs to receive hundreds, even thousands, of letters asking them to take up our Bill - this will give us the best chance of success. They can provide you with the text which you can use as a basis for your letter. In addition, they can provide you with the details of the selected MPs once they’ve been drawn. They can also supply the printing and mailing facilities for the letter if need be.

For more information on CORE and its supporting organisations please visit www.corporate-responsibility.org

About the Ballot Bill: It is also important to note the Ballot Bill process. All backbench MPs can enter the Ballot - most do. Their names are simply put in a hat and the first 20 drawn are given the opportunity to introduce a Bill into Parliament. Last year Friends of the Earth’s doorstep
recycling Bill was sponsored by Joan Ruddock MP, and recently became law - Household Waste Recycling Act 2003; with your help, they hope to repeat this success with Corporate Responsibility.

Email: cristina@foe.co.uk> Organization: Friends of the Earth

OR CONTACT
Tricia Phelan
Parliamentary Campaigns
Friends of the Earth
26-28 Underwood Street
N1 7JQ
Direct Line: 020 7566 1724
Switchboard: 020 7490 1555
Fax: 020 7490 0881