Submitted by Bob Burton on
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."
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Beth Holzman, C... replied on Permalink
Timberland's approach
Timberland is proud of our industry-leading efforts in ensuring human rights. I invite you to learn more about the work we're doing and real-life impact our efforts are creating by reading our latest 2007-2008 CSR report (available at http://bit.ly/7nPtor) and our Dig Deeper paper on Timberland's strategy for promoting fair, safe, and non-discriminatory workplaces (available at http://bit.ly/Qo6fh).