Holding Companies Accountable

**James48843** · 01-03-2010, 12:27 AM

Some communities holding companies accountable-

When they ask for and get tax breaks, local communities holding them to their promises.

Example:

"We will roll out the red carpet as much as we can (but) they are going to honor the contract," said Brendon Gallagher, an alderman in DeKalb, Ill., where Target Corp. got abatements from the city, county, school district and other taxing bodies after promising at least 500 jobs at a local distribution center.

So when the company came up 66 workers short in 2009, Target got word its next tax bill would be jumping almost $600,000 — more than half of which goes to the local school district, where teachers and programs have been cut as coffers dried up.

More: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_tax_fights

**phil** · 01-03-2010, 01:53 AM

I'm sure that Target will provide jobs as they promised. The only question is to whom.

http://www.alipac.us/article4763.html

Or, they could just do what Walmart did, which is pay 11 million, and deny any wrongdoing. The question remains.....who should receive damages for their actions?

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,150846,00.html

Another Faux news story. People here seem to object to Wikipedia.

From Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Wal-Mart

On October 23, 2003, federal agents raided 61 Wal-Mart stores in 21 U.S. states in a crackdown known as "Operation Rollback," resulting in the arrests of 250 nightshift janitors who were undocumented.Following the arrests, a grand jury convened to consider charging Wal-Mart executives with labor racketeering crimes for knowingly allowing illegal immigrants to work at their stores. The workers themselves were employed by agencies Wal-Mart contracted with for cleaning services.Wal-Mart blamed the contractors, but federal investigators point to wiretapped conversations showing that executives knew some workers did not have the right papers. The October 2003 raid was not the first time Wal-Mart was found using unauthorized workers. Earlier raids in 1998 and 2001 resulted in the arrests of 100 workers without documentation located at Wal-Mart stores around the country

**James48843** · 01-03-2010, 02:03 AM

Reminds me of this-

You can guess to whom they are referring...

**James48843** · 01-05-2010, 06:23 AM

Big U.S. fund group divests over Sudan

By Ross Kerber Ross Kerber 44 mins ago

BOSTON (Reuters) – TIAA-CREF has become the first large U.S. fund complex to sell stakes in a group of Asian energy companies over human rights concerns in Sudan.

The sales of shares of China's PetroChina Co Ltd, CNPC Hong Kong and Sinopec, and Oil and Natural Gas Corp of New Delhi totaled about $60 million, TIAA-CREF said on Monday. The stakes sold were just a small slice of New York-based TIAA-CREF's assets under management, which stood at $402 billion at the end of September, and a tiny percentage of the oil companies' market capitalization.

Still, the move could put more pressure on the companies over their business ties to Sudan's government, which is widely accused of war crimes.

The move by TIAA-CREF, which provides financial services to nonprofits like hospitals and universities, also marks a milestone for rights activists who have tried for years, mostly in vain, to line up the influential fund industry behind its social agenda.

"We hope this could send a strong message to the companies," said Hye-Won Choi, TIAA-CREF's head of corporate governance. She said her firm had sold the shares only after talks with the energy companies went nowhere.

More: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100105/...nm/india451472

**phil** · 01-05-2010, 01:01 PM

It's probably a good idea. Usually East Africa has been controlled and dominated by the Indians in the past. There's a very large Indian commercial class in the region.

Let the Chinese and the Indians have it. Sudan, in my opinion, is going to be a non-starter. The more money that goes into it, the more problems will be created, particularly with the minority/majority group there who really lack a lot of appreciation for the current group in charge.

One need only to read the human rights report for Sudan to come to that conclusion.

http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/af/119026.htm

The religious rights report is hardly any better, though not as stark as the ethnic issues.

**alevin** · 01-05-2010, 02:41 PM

I knew 2 black Sudanese muslims in grad school-20+years ago, in my department. didn't get to know them well, they came about a year before I moved on into working life They were always happy and singing, humming. A friend of mine who had worked in Africa said that the happy singing is a characteristic of black Africans in general in her experience. I have to wonder any more if they are still singing, if they were from Darfur, or if their people are the camel raiders who raid the camps or if they came from entirely other part of the country. I'll never know. The northern part (govt) is Arab Muslim, southern part is black. Sad country, rich history.