Labor

The Wal-Mart Stores Inc. worker fired last month for intercepting a reporter's phone calls says he was part of a larger, sophisticated surveillance operation that included snooping not only on employees, but also on critics, stockholders and the consulting firm McKinsey & Co., The Wall Street Journal reported. Read More

South Korean, Indian Investments May Lead to Complicity in Abuses Read More

A former Colombian security official who claims he saw an official of a U.S.-based company pay for the murders of union leaders in the South American country can testify in the upcoming civil trial over the deaths, a U.S. judge ruled Tuesday. Read More

British oil giant BP has been heavily criticised by US safety investigators over a refinery disaster that killed 15 workers in 2005. Read More

A weekend announcement by Halliburton, the US oil services giant, that it is shifting its corporate headquarters to Dubai from Texas triggered an angry response from some US lawmakers Monday. Read More

This week's CorpWatch feature highlights the plight of indigenous people in Papua New Guinea, where landowners feel that they are cheated out of their resources, livelihoods, and just compensation by the world's largest gold producer, Barrick Gold. Read More

Even as Siemens has reported buoyant financial results - thanks in part to Kleinfeld's overhaul of its operations - it has been hit with a fast-expanding corruption scandal that threatens to sink its reputation. Read More

Following the onset of reform in 1978, China has become the world's factory. By late February, its foreign exchange reserves had reached a total of US$853.7 billion, surpassing Japan's US$831.6 billion to become the largest in the world. Meanwhile, the human rights of the Chinese people remain severely restricted. Read More

A dozen Guatemalan workers filed a federal lawsuit Thursday accusing one of the nation's largest nurseries of engaging in human trafficking by forcing them to work nearly 80 hours per week, paying them less than minimum wage and denying them medical care for injuries on the job. Read More

Labor rights groups long have documented low pay and strict management in Chinese factories. But as Western firms increasingly move manufacturing to China to cut costs and raise profits, activists are adopting a strategy of publicizing conditions at globally recognized companies including Foxconn, which supplies dozens of international brands such as Apple Inc. from its Shenzhen facilities. Read More