Back in September 2007 Jeffrey Swartz, the CEO of the outdoor wear company Timberland, explained on a conference call said that he didn't want the company's latest corporate social responsibility (CSR) report to come across as "corporate cologne." Swartz said that he wanted to "seduce consumers to care." Jeffrey Ballinger, a labor rights and anti-sweatshops advocate, took up the challenge and began posting comments on the "Earthkeeper" section of the company's website about labor standards in Thailand, where the company sources its boots from. "So, I just started plunking things down on their web page ... And I can't get a straight answer,” he told Corporate Crime Reporter. Following publicity about his concerns, Timberland's Vice-President of CSR, Gordon Peterson, promised to respond to each specific issue and identify "gaps" between Ballinger's "view of what should happen, and our view of what we are capable of achieving."

FedEx's new "multimillion-dollar marketing campaign" doesn't tout the delivery company's service or speed. It accuses rival United Parcel Service (UPS) of receiving a government bailout. FedEx's website BrownBailout.com claims UPS is "quietly seeking a Congressional bailout designed to limit competition for overnight deliveries." One marketing executive said the campaign may backfire on FedEx, as "this is clearly not a bailout as most consumers and business people would define it, which is writing a check to a troubled business." At issue is "a provision in a Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill" that would reclassify some FedEx employees under the National Labor Relations Act, making it easier for them to form unions. UPS, which is "heavily unionized," is already classified under the Act. UPS spokesman Malcolm Berkley said that FedEx "uses the fact of the labor law it is currently under inappropriately as a lever when talking to UPS customers, particularly when we're negotiating our contracts." UPS isn't responding to the FedEx campaign, but the Teamsters union, which represents 240,000 UPS workers, is. A Teamsters press release accuses FedEx CEO Fred Smith of spending "millions of dollars on misleading ad campaigns and high-priced lobbyists [rather] than allow[ing] workers a real chance to form a union."

"The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is launching a $1 million television advertising campaign that takes a new line of attack against the Employee Free Choice Act, highlighting a provision that would allow federal arbitrators to set the rules for unionization if management and employees fail to negotiate their own deal." The ads "will hit the airwaves in Nebraska, Virginia, Louisiana, North Dakota and Colorado -- states whose senators could be swing votes." Previous attacks on the bill, from the Chamber and corporate front groups like the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace and Employee Freedom Action Committee, claimed it would get rid of secret ballot elections. The bill would actually allow employees to form unions either by holding elections or signing cards. According to the Wall Street Journal, the "more than $30 million on TV ads [spent] in the past few years portraying the secret-ballot provision as antidemocratic ... pressured several key senators to reverse their prior support, leaving the bill several senators short of 60 votes." Since Labor Day, unions "have spent $10 million" on ads supporting the bill. Their spots criticize corporate greed, and say the bill "would improve the lives of workers and help the economy."

In the battle over the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which would make it easier for workers to join a union, "both the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO are focusing on grassroots outreach." Before the bill was introduced, "the Chamber launched the Workforce Freedom Airlift program, a series of events that fly in local small business owners to Washington," to lobby against the bill. The first "airlift," on March 10, "brought in small business owners from Pennsylvania, Virginia, Nebraska, and Louisiana." Since July 2008, the Chamber has worked with Adfero Group on an anti-EFCA "social media effort," expanding "a virtual march on Washington that was created the last time the bill went to Congress in 2007." It "allows users to register for the march as avatars and send an automatic letter to their elected officials through a Facebook application." Meanwhile, the AFL-CIO is highlighting "YouTube videos of workers sharing their support" of EFCA, and running "an online contest that allows users to vote on the most outrageous statements from the opposition."

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce -- along with other industry-funded groups, such as the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace -- is fighting the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), a bill that would make it easier for employees to join labor unions. At the same time the Chamber is saying EFCA would "impose new and costly regulations on business," it hired the lobbying firm of former House Majority leader Dick Gephardt, "who enjoyed strong support from organized labor during his political career." According to the vague lobbying disclosure forms, the Gephardt Group may not lobby on EFCA. It registered to represent the Chamber on "intellectual property," environmental and manufacturing issues.

The Korean Ministry of Labour has appointed Fleishman-Hillard (F-H) to "develop a strategic communications campaign to address pressing labour-related issues within the domestic market," reports Media magazine. David Blecken reports that F-H will run a one-year campaign which will "aim to maintain social harmony by building a greater level of understanding between the government, business community, unions, employees and other related interest groups." The South Korean Embassy in Washington D.C. has also hired the lobbying firm Parven Pomper Strategies (PPS) to promote the Korea - U.S. Free Trade Agreement, which has not yet been ratified by the U.S. Congress. The six-month-long contract is reported to be worth $120,000. Other PPS clients include Chevron, Monsanto, Pfizer and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.

From a Center for Union Facts ad against the Employee Free Choice Act"Three days after receiving $25 billion in federal bailout funds, Bank of America Corp. hosted a conference call with conservative activists," including corporate front man and Lifetime Falsie winner Rick Berman, aimed at blocking the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). "At least one representative from another bailout recipient, AIG" was also on the October 17, 2008 call, reports Sam Stein. EFCA, which is supported by labor unions and human rights groups, would give workers the option of either signing cards to join a workplace union, or holding an election. Berman, whose Center for Union Facts corporate front group campaigns against EFCA, said on the call that the only way to defeat the bill post-election, "if we don't have a filibuster proof Senate ... is to make the issue so hot in some states so that even a Democrat who is up for election in 2010 has to think twice" about supporting it. Another call participant suggested EFCA opponents make major contributions to Berman's group, adding, "Some organizations have written checks for $250,000, $500,000, some $2 million for this." Berman said the call was "one of a series with people around the country who are connected to businesses." A Bank of America research document, released after the call, said while EFCA "could drive higher labor cost at retail," it would also increase the "spending power of lower income consumers."

A full-page ad in the New York Times "accuses ACORN of a list of abuses that suggest hypocrisy on some of the group's signature issues: intimidating and firing its own employees if they try to unionize, misappropriating millions of dollars from taxpayer-funded government grants and advocating minimum wage hides while paying its own employees less than minimum wage." While the ad "does not indicate who or what organization paid for it," it comes from one of lobbyist Rick Berman's many front groups, the Employment Policies Institute (EPI). For years, Berman "has been fighting ACORN's efforts to increase the minimum wage at the state and federal levels." Tim Miller, the spokesman for EPI and Berman's Center for Consumer Freedom, said they placed the ad because after the election, "a lot of the coverage of ACORN is going to go away, but they are going to continue the same corrupt and fraudulent practices." ACORN says the charges in EPI's ad are untrue. For example, ACORN "pledged complete neutrality" when one of its offices "wanted to form a union," said ACORN's Steve Kest. The employees eventually "decided not to pursue [the union], so nothing came of it."