Sweeney, who addressed the symposium on Monday, said that the requirements embodied in the GRI must be made mandatory if they are to bring about real reforms. You need not look any further than the experience with Nike and other shoe manufacturers over the last several years in the attempt to shut down their sweatshops. Their industry created effort in too many cases has served essentially as a toothless publicity front to ward off a serious examination of the labor practices inside their overseas factories. They maintain absolute silence in the heat of accusation. When silence becomes too loud or discomforting, they deny any wrongdoing.
Denial is followed by tokenistic concessions or outright bribery.
Listening to Douglas speak were representatives from dozens of multinational corporations, including Mark Wade of Shell International. Oil fire burns on Ogoni land on Niger Delta. Wade said he could not comment on Shell's relationship with the Nigerian military, which has been accused of brutalizing and murdering hundreds of indigenous Ogoni people who protested the operations of the multinational oil company. Wade said that questions about those allegations would have to be addressed by someone in Shell's London office. Still, Wade was quick to deny Douglas's implication.