Corporations have an inordinate amount of power today – not just economic power, but political and social/cultural power as well. In their constant quest to cut costs and increase profits, corporations often use this power to undermine laws that were designed to protect workers, the environment and public health. The flurry of free trade negotiations are being driven by corporations seeking to weaken, or remove, these same laws.
Maryknoll works closely with the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), which uses shareholder resolutions and other forms of pressure to try to bring about positive changes in corporate policies. While holding corporations responsible to higher ethical standards is important, we also believe that laws must be changed to limit the power and functioning of corporations so that they will not have such an overwhelming amount of power.
See also:
New Orleans' slow rebuilding: ICCR delegation visits devastated
region (May 2006)
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