I've been looking around for a list which provides very basic information about major retail and consumer companies in the US. Effectively, I want to know quickly, and easily, the labor and environmental standing of a corporation with whom I might choose to do business. Think Monterey Bay's Seafood Watch pocket guide, but for retail businesses. Thus far, I've had no luck at all finding such a list, which is surprising. Hence, a quick plea for help...
This is important. It is all well and good to be pissed at this or that specific company, but it doesn't make much of a difference if you don't realize, say, that Target's labor record is nearly as bad as Wal-mart's. Same with big-oil: it's stupid boycotting BP over the environmental catastrophe in the Gulf, only to spend your money with Shell, who continues to cause massive issues in Nigeria. It is often a zero-sum game if you don't approach it with more information. But, there is no list that I have found with allows one to simply, accurately, and quickly separate the douche-bags from the decent folks, or, at least allow one to choose a lesser evil when looking to spend some retail dollars. So, I'm trying to put together a list which provides these simple answers. And instead of going the slow road, I thought I'd appeal for some help.
Think Monterey Bay's Seafood Watch pocket guide, but for retail/consumer corporations. Of course, it is always better to shop at local businesses (or DIY!), but it is not always an option (like with airlines or cable companies, or just as a consequence of local conditions). This list will concern only large chains such as Starbucks, Home Depot, Comcast, World Market, Bank of America, Whole Foods, McDonald's, KFC, T-Mobile, Best Buy, Wal-mart, etc. Also, in the interest of functionality, it will only deal with US national or sub-national retail/consumer groups.
The list will have only 4 ratings within two separate categories: Labor and Environment. This needs to be as simple and effective for as many users as possible, and like the Monterey Bay Guide, be easy to carry around if you wanted to. I realize that there are a variety of categories which could be looked at with these companies (such as taxation, subsidies, political contributions, race or gender), there are also a variety of ways that the ratings could be made more subtle/accurate. But, for sakes of simplicity and functionality, these two categories say quite a bit about a particular company.
Labor will be rated as: 1) Unionized. 2) Mixed union and non-union (either on shop or regional basis). 3) Non-union. 4) Anti-union and anti-labor.
Environmental ratings will be similar: 1) Progressive. 2) Responsible. 3) Mixed record. 4) Harmful.
To cut to the chase: if you have any information on the environmental or labor records of any major companies, please rate them in the comments below according to the above scale. I'm just getting started, so any information you might have, even what might seem obvious, would be a help. Also, please do pass along any links you might be aware of which provide partial information that would be valuable. Once I get a list together that is substantial enough to be worth dealing with, I'll past along a link to the document and folks can do with the data as they please.
In any case, thanks for the help!