The 10 companies with the worst ethical
ratings, and some of the things they've done to earn the ranking:
10. Total SA. French oil and gas company Total has been accused of building
a pipeline with the aid of slave labor in Myanmar. In addition, in 1999 one
of the company's oil tankers, the Erika, which had 30,000 tons of oil on
board, sunk off of the coast of Brittany. A French court later asked the
company to compensate the victims of the spill
9. Grupo Mexico. Grupo Mexico, the mining giant, placed ninth worst in the
Covalence ethical index. In 2007, miners at Mexicana, the copper mine in
Cananea, northern Mexico (pictured), went on strike to protest safety and
health violations -- and more than two years later, the workers are still
striking. But just today, Grupo Mexico proposed a new deal to workers aimed
at resolving the dispute.
8. Syngenta.The Swiss agriculture and chemicals company Syngenta ranked
eighth worst in the survey. The company was fined by the EPA in 2008 for
pesticide-related infringements, and one of its former employees was
recently awarded nearly $2 million after she was wrongly fired for reporting
discrimination in the workplace.
7. RyanAir. Michael O'Leary, the CEO of Irish budget airline Ryanair, is
known for his outrageous behavior and aggressive cost-cutting measures.
Employees of his company are reportedly forbidden from using the company's
pens or charging their cellphones with its electricity. And O'Leary has been
known to get nasty with customers, allegedly yelling and cursing at one
person who requested a refund after a relative fell ill.
6. Occidental Petroleum. Occidental, one of America's largest oil and gas
companies, has been involved in a number of territory disputes in multiple
countries, including Ecuador and Colombia. The company also drew ire from
environmentalists in 2005, when it proposed building a road through
Ecuador's Yasuní National Park.
5. Philip Morris. Philip Morris, one of the world's leading cigarette
manufacturers, ranked fifth-worst in the Covalence survey. Earlier this
month, the company reportedly attempted to persuade the government to
abandon its ten-year-old lawsuit against the tobacco industry for allegedly
concealing the dangers of cigarettes.
4. Freeport-McMoRan. Freeport-McMoRan, a copper and gold producer, has run
into opposition in Indonesia's Papua province, where locals have tried to
claim the area's vast gold deposits -- reportedly the largest in the world.
3. Chevron. Chevron, the oil and gas behemoth, has been accused of tax
evasion as well a number of environmental infractions in several countries
around the world. But perhaps most controversial was a 1998 episode in
Nigeria: after protesters took hostages as part of a demonstration against
the company, Nigerian soldiers shot at the demonstrators, killing two.
Chevron was accused of facilitating the transport of the soldiers, known for
their "general history of committing abuses," to the scene. The company,
however, was cleared of the charges in 2008.
2. Halliburton. After the invasion of Iraq in 2003, Halliburton, the oil and
gas company famously associated with former Vice President Dick Cheney, was
accused of unfairly procuring billions of dollars in government contracts
for oil repair in the country.
1. Monsanto, the Missouri-based agriculture giant, ranked dead last in the
Covalence ethical index. The company, which leads the world in the
production of genetically-engineered seed, has been subject to myriad
criticisms. Among them: the company is accused of frequently and unfairly
suing small farmers for patent infringement.
The 10 Least Ethical Companies In The World: Covalence's Ranking
|
