Year’s worst multinationals tied to LatAm

Progressive news website alternet.org released its annual list of the 10 Worst Corporations. Firms like AIG and Cargill were among those named while several other firms were highlighted for their ties to Latin America.

Fruit company Dole was cited for mistreating workers in the Philippines though a labor rights activist also claimed that Costa Rican laborers face a similar situation. Multinational firm GE was placed on the list over allegedly firing a whistleblower who denounced corruption in Brazil. According to a court filing, former company attorney Adriana Koeck accused GE execs in Brazil of participating in a "bribing club" designed to circumvent tax laws.

The biggest wag of the finger related to Latin American was directed at oil giant Chevron. As we’ve mentioned before, a lawsuit in Ecuador claims that Texaco (now owned by Chevron) dumped billions of gallons of toxic wastewater in the Amazonian jungle. One “environmental expert” claimed that the company could lose as much as $16 billion in the lawsuit while the work of Ecuadorian indigenous activists has been recognized abroad.

In addition:

Having argued vociferously that Ecuadorian courts were fair and impartial, Chevron is now unhappy with how the litigation has proceeded in that country. So unhappy, in fact, that it is lobbying the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to impose trade sanctions on Ecuador if the Ecuadorian government does not make the case go away.

(Hat tip: Metafilter).

Image- Newsweek
Sources- The Latin Americanist, Christian Science Monitor, Metafilter, alternet.org, MSNBC