by bgetch.

Five board directors at Affiliated Computer Services have agreed to step down, even as they accused the company’s chairman of "bullying and thuggery," according to letters released Thursday.  This is a relatively rare public fight between an executive and board.  Law firms already engaged but this is a clear PR bout with the Board scoring points early.

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by bgetch.

General Mills  issued a most tepid recall of about 5 million frozen pizzas sold nationwide under the Totino’s and Jeno’s labels because of possible E. coli contamination.   The tone was a mistake: as if this were the recall of the week.  Perhaps the attorneys have taken over already.

General Mills went with a holding statement from its spokesperson  — always somewhat unsatisfying — and a kiss-off  few will bother with: pizza replacements by clipping the bar code from the box and mailing it with their name and address.  Thanks for nothing.

The holding statement: "We took action on that basis as a precaution, because of the
possibility that a link might exist," said General Mills spokesman Tom
Forsythe. "However, to date we have found no E. coli in our plant, and
we have found no E. coli in our products."  No disparagement of Tom but people might want something from brass and more remedial-oriented language.

General Mills said it is cooperating fully with the investigation,
which is continuing. The company said it is not naming the pepperoni
supplier because the source of the E. coli is still under investigation.

Most likely the supplier will be given the blame and General Mills will have a "comprehensive review" of procedures.

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by bgetch.

The Gap has been dealing with child labor issues for years.  The company employs 90+ compliance officers to conduct 8,500 factory surprise visits and produces garments in 3,000 factories located in 50 countries.

ABC and CBS have recently run stories in response to new pictures in UK media of 10-13 year old kids in India under sweatshop conditions.  Here’s CBS’s story. 

As it goes, the Gap’s NA President and the company couldn’t have done much better that this in the coverage.

- She’s grateful for the investigative report that uncovered this.
- The Gap will set up schools for those kids.
- They’ll go after vendors.

The Gap also has the benefit of the  National Labor Committee saying the Gap is a fairly good corporate player and uses  the Business for Social Responsibility non-profit to try to monitor its suppliers.

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by bgetch.

The chemical producers and other businesses paid 215 lobbyists between
$16.4 million and $74.5 million to lobby on chemical plant security in
2006, according to a recent report from Greenpeace, an industry rival
that tracked lobbyists who registered publicly to advocate on the
legislation.  more

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