Cotton couture and slave labor – words that many of us may never think of together, but they’re the topic of our latest Social Issues Update.

You know that t-shirt you bought for your brother or the one you received from grandma? You may have thought it was the perfect gift, but take a deeper look into where that shirt originated. One hint – it didn’t just come from the mall. Read more

Our latest email newsletter addressed the issue of sustainable toys, including how companies, such as Matel and Hasboro, are making sure that their products aren’t destroying the rainforest. In addition to improving packaging and paper sourcing techniques, some companies have made sustainability the entire focus of their toy lines, manufacturing their products from renewable sources and recycled materials. Need a green gift? Check out the list in our newsletter as well as Green America’s recommendations for eco-friendly toy companies. Read more

One of our Advocates, The Center for Political Accountability (CPA), is the topic of a recent article in the Wall Street Journal regarding the hot issue of political donations.

The WSJ article, written by Brad Smith, defends the right of corporations to secretly fund political campaigns.  Smith attacks the CPA and their push towards ‘transparency and oversight’ regarding political donations. Read more

Last week, Jack Ucciferri from Harrington Investments published an interesting article focusing on how shareholders are ultimately responsible for director indemnification, especially when they represent big banking corporations. Jack explains, “In layman’s terms, this means that bank shareholders (often unwittingly) pay for what amount to licenses for these public menaces to be shielded from the costs associated with the sociopathic behavior of the corporations they run.” Read more

I have a dog. I got him two years ago to provide me company, and he’s become my most reliable friend. Winter is coming, and we’re going to spend many evenings next to the fire; he on his cushion, I on my chair. And this will be good.

I live in the country, and my dog spends his afternoons roaming the neighborhood. He visits an elderly neighbor’s house and digs up her gardens. He rips laundry from her lines and drags it through the mud. He torments her cat. Lately, he’s been barking loudly at her window. I’ve never met my neighbor, and I never will. No one else will ever know about my dog’s activities — just me and my neighbor, and she’ll never say a word. Read more

Recently, activist investing has gotten some attention at Oshkosh and Hewlett Packard, but both companies aren’t looking at the situation in the same way. In October, we sent out a Corporate Governance Update focused on activist investing, highlighting why these investors can be good or bad for the company. Perhaps Oshkosh and HP are prime examples of those two different situations.

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Before the Occupiers began making waves on Wall Street, an unusual group of advocates were more quietly raising eyebrows — Sister Nora and her team of approximately 540 Catholic nuns known as the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility.

In fact, Sister Nora and her team have gone to bat with Kroger regarding farm workers and their rights, McDonald’s over obesity in children and Wells Fargo concerning their lending practices. Most recently, they even went head to head with Goldman Sachs, one of the world’s most powerful investments banks.  Sister Nora met with three top executives at Goldman Sachs on topics such as protecting consumers, reining in executive pay, increasing corporate transparence and considering the poor and unfortunate in their business plans.

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We came across this USA Today article last week and thought it was an important one to share since we have addressed this topic before on our blog and Social Issues Update.

According to the article, by the end of the year, there will be 18 women running Fortune 500 companies.  This beats the previous record of 16 females.  Just in the last few months, three new female CEOs have been named: Meg Whitman for Hewlett-Packard, Denise Morrison for Campbell Soup and Gracia Martore for Gannett.

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Happy Friday! We’re trying to figure out who exactly you people are. Help us out with some answers, please.
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