Here are some examples of campaigns that others are currently running. Do we want to work in similar areas, or will our new Corporate Power campaign be more effective if it has an entirely new focus?
Let us know what you think.
Image © Courtesy of Action Aid
Action Aid’s campaign highlights the tremendous and misused power of supermarkets, who put pressure on suppliers to deliver more for less, which is passed on to workers in the form of low wages, job insecurity and poor working conditions. Campaigns to make the government bring in new rules to ensure that supermarkets do not abuse their dominant position.
Corporate Accountability International’s campaigns challenge irresponsible corporate actions in industries like water, tobacco, oil, and food and agribusiness.
Friends of the Earth groups, together with indigenous peoples and communities, are resisting hundreds of mining, forests, food, energy and water projects that threaten the environment and livelihoods. They are calling for rights for communities and citizens to choose their local economies and to hold corporations legally accountable for bad practices, as well as challenging the powerful role of corporations in institutions like the World Trade Organization, the World Bank, the UN system and the World Economic Forum.
Poverty & the Private Sector
Oxfam’s campaign seeks to influence companies to improve their policies and practices when they source their products in factories in poor countries. Also works with businesses that are genuinely committed to making a positive impact in the developing world — both on workers’ lives and on the environment.
Image © Touko Sipiläinen / War on Want
War on Want targets multinational corporations who are complicit in wars throughout the world, putting profit before people and often legitimising and fuelling the conflict. Through their partners among grassroots organisations in Asia, Latin America and Africa, they aim to redress some of the damage that Western behaviour inflicts on the world. Aggressive corporate behaviour is not tolerated passively — it is resisted by myriad groups working their way out of poverty. These groups need our solidarity.
Image © Courtesy of War on Want
War on Want highlights how companies see tax dodging as a legitimate part of their business operations. And the cost is enormous. Developing countries lose an estimated £250 billion every year as a direct result of corporate tax dodging. Tax avoidance and capital flight cost Africa five times what it receives in aid in each year. War on Want believes it’s time to put an end to the corporate tax scandal. And justice, like charity, begins at home. The UK is a major part of the global problem of corporate tax dodging - it should be part of the solution.
Please note that featuring the above campaign examples in no way implies affiliation.