Corporate Responsibility Mondays.

Well it’s about time to switch over to food. This week, I’ve chosen Sara Lee Corporation. Which most of just equate with Apple Pies and other dessert foods. However Sara Lee operates many different companies and products that exist under the umbrella of The Sara Lee Corporation. Some of the recgonizable companies include: Bali (underwear), Ballpark (hot dogs), Champion (clothing), Hanes (clothing), Hillshires Farm (food), Jimmy Dean (food), Playtex (girl stuff), and Sara Lee Foods (food).

The Sara Lee Corporation is a notorious offender of labor and environmental laws, constantly finding its way to the Top 10 Worst Corporations List.

When it comes to Fair Trade coffee products, Sara Lee gets the lowest score of all of its competitors on a grading system that takes into account the price they pay to the farmers, policy alternatives, financial contributions, and leadership in industry-wide initiatives.

FRAUD – Sara Lee was one of the several major food companies implicated as conspiring to cover up a massive accounting scandal at U.S. Foodservice (owned by Royal Ahold). Between 2000 and 2003 U.S. Foodservice inflated earnings by $800 million, aided by falsified rebate contracts from clients such as Sara Lee and ConAgra. Sara Lee maintains that they are innocent of misconduct, however the company terminated three sales executives linked to the scandal. – Washington Post

GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS – Earthgrains Baking Companies, Inc., a subsidiary of Sara Lee, reached a $5.25 million settlement with the Department of Justice and the EPA for committing the “largest ever corporate-wide violations of stratospheric ozone protection regulations.” Of the 67 facilities run by Earthgrains, 57 leaked refrigerants at a rate 35% higher than allowed by law. In addition, the company made no attempt to correct leakage problems even after their discovery.

ETHICS - In a report obtained by the Detroit Free Press through the Freedom of Information Act it was revealed that managers at Sara Lee’s Bil Mar plant in western Michigan knew they were shipping tainted hot dogs and deli meats, according to statements from workers and a meat inspector to federal criminal investigators. The federal meat inspector also told investigators that managers were aware the plant had increased levels of listeria about eight months before the 1998 nationwide listeriosis outbreak that killed 15, caused six miscarriages and sickened 101 people.

DISCRIMINATION – In May 2002 Sara Lee agreed to pay $3.5 million to 139 black employees who complained of racial harassment and retaliation at Sara Lee subsidiary Hygrade Food Products Corp., a hot-dog plant that closed in 2001. The settlement came after 23 separate racial discrimination suits were filed in June 2001 by African-American employees against the company. The suits, filed in U.S. District Court, alleged that the African-American employees of the Philadelphia Ball Park brand hot dog factory were harassed, subjected to racial epithets, and denied promotions.

SWEATSHOP LABOR – According to the Clean Clothes Campaign, clothing from Champion Products, a subsidiary of Sara Lee Corp., is manufactured in a Thai factory that has long exploited its workers by underpaying, denying payment of overtime wages, requiring forced overtime work, and providing none of the working welfare necessary under Thai law. Employees were made to work in shifts, which each lasted for 12 hours with strict limits on permission time to use the toilet. Women workers have also been sexually harassed and violated. Workers who organized a 1998 strike were fired for their activities.

Sources: Responsible Shopper, Corp Watch, Washington Post, U.S. Department of Justice

As always, be sure to check out Ariah’s post on positive companies that are making advances in creating a more sustainable world.

[tags]Responsible Shopper, Corporate Responsibility, Corp Watch, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Sweatshop Labor, Sara Lee[/tags]