Ethical rating

New Internationalist, Sept, 2004 by Dieter Gerhardt

Co-ops are no guarantee to safeguarding workers' rights, members' equality or good corporate practice in general. Like any other company, government or citizen nowadays, we are increasingly being strangled by global corporate conglomerates. In order to counterbalance this stranglehold I wonder how difficult it would be to set up an ethical rating system for such global enterprises. There could be scales such as:

* Environmental impact assessment

* Treatment of the communities they operate in

* Treatment of workers and associated companies

* Equality and transparency levels.

There could be a carrot and stick approach. In other words this chart would benefit the companies that score best and would get free promotion. This could all be self-financing and available on the web.

Dieter Gerhardt Co Kilkenny, Ireland