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Newsletter Issue 1 Jan - Feb 2001 |
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CORPORATE EYE Vodafone in tumours lawsuit Verizon, a partially owned subsidiary of UK mobile giant Vodafone is reported to be among companies facing litigation in the US over allegations that mobile phones can cause brain tumours. Although the medical evidence is not yet conclusive either way, the Maryland-based law firm run by Peter Angelos, which recently helped cancer-suffering smokers to win $4.2bn in damages from tobacco companies, reportedly thinks that the mobile companies’ knowing of a potential health risk is sufficient grounds for the suit. BBC, 28/12/00 Who pays your MEP? For those of you who weren’t watching TV on 10th January, those inventive and well-funded bods at the Mark Thomas Product have put the entire Register of MEPs’ Interests on the web, breaking the law in the process. Make the project worthwhile by checking it out and giving your MEP hell over all those bungs… www.mepsinterests.com Novartis and Astra-Zeneca create agri-business giant Swiss biotech giant Novartis and the UK’s Astra-Zeneca have de-merged their agri-business interests into a new company, Syngenta. The parent companies will concentrate on pharmaceuticals, while Syngenta takes over their agrochemicals and GM crops interests, including the ‘Traitor’ technology – patents on genes which make a seed require input of a certain (branded) chemical to germinate or to grow properly. While Astra-Zeneca had previously promised not to develop the technology after objections from farmers groups and environmentalists, it is not known what Syngenta will do. Guardian 31/10/00 Victory against Microsoft As well as continuing to fight the court order to break the company in two on anti-trust grounds, Microsoft may have to pay out nearly $100m to current and former employees in settlement of the so-called ‘permatemp’ case. Thousands of temporary workers brought a class action against the company in 1992 after being denied benefits such as pensions and healthcare. The case appears to have forced the company to change its policy – since 1997 some 3,000 permatemps have been taken back on full contracts and the policy of hiring people for twelve months, then sacking them and getting them to re-apply for their jobs ( in order to avoid legal requirements to provide them with benefits) appears to have ended. Lawyers for the permatemps, David Stobaugh and Stephen Strong, said in a statement, ‘This case was brought to change the system at Microsoft and to obtain some compensation for this practice…We believe this case has achieved its goals.’ The company is also facing one of the largest discrimination suits in US history as a group of seven African-American current and former employees accuse the firm of racism and a ‘plantation mentality’ in the workplace. They are seeking $5bn damages for getting lower wages than white employees and being repeatedly passed over for promotion. Lawyers pointed to 1999 government statistics that showed only 2.6% of Microsoft's 21,429 employees, and only 1.6% of the company's 5,155 managers, were black. The suit is being brought simultaneously against the company and its head Bill Gates. On top of these staff disputes, Microsoft is also facing legal challenges in several US states by consumers claiming they have been overcharged for Windows. BBC, 12/12/00, 3/1/01 Water Woes ‘Water UK’, the representative for privatised water companies, is trying to get a new Government draft bill dropped. It says the bill, which would protect the UK’s wetlands from being over-drained, would result in water shortages and higher costs for consumers. They even had the gall to suggest that the government needs to consider the long-term future of water supplies – as if draining rivers and wetlands for current use is a sustainable strategy! The current system contains little incentive for companies to conserve water stocks or encourage customers to reduce consumption, and the privatised companies have come under fire for making excessive profits while allowing systems to deteriorate. See Corporate Watch 12 for more on privatised water. Financial Times, 8/1/01 Oil boom In December the UK government approved four major new North Sea oil schemes which are predicted to boost production by millions of barrels a year. The £1bn worth of projects include a BP gas pipeline from the Shetland Isles to aid drilling in the Magnus oilfield, a new floating platform in the Leadon field and projects in the Foinaven and Kyle fields. These projects are not covered by the January 2000 ruling obtained by Greenpeace stating that further oil licensing is illegal until the UK government has developed regulations in tune with the EU Habitats Directive (mainly concerned with protecting whales and dolphins). The 19th round of licensing applications, which closes on February 27th, is covered by the ruling, but it is feared that a government fudge will put weak regulaitons in place in order to allow licensing to continue unhindered. This news comes amid reports of a 15-year high in oil companies’ profits, with returns of 36.4% in the UK North Sea sector, which is at the same time the lowest-taxed oilfield in the world (see ‘Fuel Facts’ CW 12, James Marriott and Greg Muttitt). Greenpeace estimates state that current fossil fuel reserves are four times larger than may actually be burned if climate change is to be kept at a manageable level, making further oil exploration counterproductive. BBC 18/12/00, Guardian 11/1/01 Balfour Beatty in training Corporate manslaughter is good for business! Balfour Beatty – responsible for the state of the rail network at the time of the Hatfield crash – have been rewarded for their lax attitude towards safety by being handed a £125 million contract by Railtrack. This covers Wessex, Kent, Anglia and Great Eastern and appears intended to make up for the £60m in contracts they have lost since Hatfield. However, the HSE is still intent on prosecuting them under the manslaughter charge. Balfour Beatty obviously have no problem with their safety performance and actually boast about how safety conscious and responsible they are on their ‘Safety & Environment’ page on their new website, launched in November 2000. No mention of Hatfield, strangely enough. The firm has its fingers in all manner of pies in the UK (and overseas – e.g. the Ilisu Dam): hospitals, schools, roads, water, power; they are one of the companies taking most advantage of the Private Finance Initiative (PFI). BBC/Guardian 22/1/01, www.balfourbeatty.com D.I.Y research guide - Become a corporate watcher! This new, updated version of our popular training guide on how to research companies breaks down the mystique surrounding research. It includes top tips on how to use the web, libraries, press searches, official sources, and overt and covert interview techniques. November 1999.. 12 pages. £1 |
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