Month of August , 2007

American Rights at Work’s third annual report profiles ten corporations that demonstrated successful labor relations.

In its third annual edition of “Labor Day List: Partnerships that Work,” labor policy and advocacy group American Rights at Work profiled several companies, including AT&T and Thompson Electric, that it found have maintained successful partnerships between employees, employers and unions.

Stakeholders to select best sustainability report in global poll.

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) announced that it will launch a web-based global survey of sustainability report readers to assess the strengths and weaknesses of reporting.

Flag pulls dedicated staff person in the U.S. in favor of consultants, U.K. staff.

Despite the surge in CSR reporting in the United States, CSR communications agency Flag decided to take a lower profile in North America, opting to close its one-person Chicago office in favor of servicing its high profile clients with consultants, and with staff, from its Cambridge, U.K., headquarters.

Dow Chemical Company addresses the ethical and environmental challenges that face the chemical industry, its personal legacy, and its commitment to “sustainable chemistry.”

To The Dow Chemical Co., chemistry is a way to solve problems—big problems. As environmental concerns like climate change, the lack of clean water, food shortages and human health rise on the global agenda, Dow believes it has the tools to find solutions and to make money doing so.

Opening the channels of corporate responsibility communication can maximize share value.

Corporate responsibility (CR) has become a major concern of corporations and their shareholders, as a recent Thomson Financial survey of investor relations officers (IROs) and investors shows. The survey, which considered CR to include governance trends as well as social issues, found that over 82 percent of investors consider CR criteria when evaluating their investments. The survey, conducted in March, also shows that nearly 73 percent of shareholders and 59 percent of IROs believe CR impacts share price.

High performance facilities could become an industry standard, but corporate benefits come from an early commitment.

If your company’s environmental focus is still in the future tense—as in “going” green—we believe you’re in danger of learning that your competitors have already picked up and “gone.” We find this increasingly true in one area of our consulting business: helping our clients drive value through design, development and operation of high performance facilities—or green buildings.

The Rainforest Alliance continues to develop sustainable practices for companies seeking ever-popular certification.

Currently celebrating its 20th anniversary, the Rainforest Alliance was originally founded by Wall Street lawyer Daniel Katz and a group of concerned citizens he organized to raise awareness about rainforest destruction...

Report finds many countries made "significant improvement" in governance practices.

The World Bank Institute released its annual “Worldwide Govern­ance Indicators,” which measures governance practices across six categories in 212 countries.

Extensions, amendments and new auditing standards for section 404

The U.S. House of Representatives approved an amendment June 28 to an appropriations bill that would give smaller firms more time to comply with the internal controls of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Institutional Shareholder Services tracks the trends and changes for the 2007 proxy season in report.

Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) discovered a focus on accountability, engagement, proposals for takeover defenses and social issues in their report on the 2007 U.S. proxy season. Overall, ISS found that individual investors had a good season in terms of attracting investor support.