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Filed under: China Environment — Poland Li @ 12:48 pm |
A three-year investigation (the country's largest soil conservation scientific survey since the People's Republic of China was established) reveals almost 40 percent of China's territory, or 3,569,200 square kilometres of land, suffers from soil erosion. The erosion could be found in almost every river basin in every province and severe as 4.52 billion tons of soil is eroded every year. Grain production will be reduced by 40 percent in 50 years if soil erosion continues at this rate. More here. |
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Filed under: Thailand Civil society Companies — Stephen Frost @ 08:25 am |
The Stock Exchange of Thailand decided to shelve its decision on whether to list Thai Beverage Plc indefinitely as thousands of monks, students and social activists celebrated the victory. Vichate Tantiwanich, a SET executive vice-president, told the protesters outside the exchange headquarters on Thursday that financial advisers for ThaiBev were unable to set an appropriate price for the local offering by the filing deadline. "As a result, the plan to list ThaiBev will be delayed," Mr Vichate said, adding the advisers had said market conditions were not conducive at this time. More here. |
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Filed under: Labour Japan Companies — Stephen Frost @ 08:23 am |
Isuzu Motors Ltd. will terminate employment contracts with all 1,400 temporary and seasonal workers at its plants in Japan at the end of the year in response to sluggish sales amid the global financial crisis, Isuzu officials have said. The major truck and bus manufacturer has a truck assembly plant in Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture, and a second factory in Ohira, Tochigi Prefecture, that makes engines and transmissions and other auto parts. More here. |
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Filed under: Nepal — Stephen Frost @ 08:21 am |
Protestors shut down the Nepalese capital Kathmandu with a strike Thursday over the abduction and murder of two men, allegedly by the youth wing of the country's ruling Maoists. The one-day strike was called by relatives of the murdered men and supported by opposition parties and student organisations. More here. |
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Filed under: Hong Kong Corruption — Stephen Frost @ 08:15 am |
Agents from the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) raided the Kowloon Tong headquarters of Climax International (listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange) on September 22 and arrested as many as 10 of its officers for bribery and theft, the company admitted yesterday. Climax, which makes paper products such as photo albums, gift items and stationery, said an investigation by the ICAC is continuing. Story here. |
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Filed under: China Investment — Peter Zhu @ 21:31 pm |
There's been a lot of rumour swirling around the internet over the last day or so that Chinese automakers SAIC or Donfeng may buy GM and/or Chrysler. Most commentary cited a piece in the 21st Century Business Herald (a well known daily in China) as the source of the story. The problem was that the article in question hadn't been available online until today (it was only available in print). It's now available ( here, in Chinese), and this is what is says (in summary): General Motors and Chrysler are facing the possibility of bankruptcy in the current global recession. Auto manufacturing giants in China, such as Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) and Dongfeng Motor Corporation, intend to purchase some of the two American automakers' assets, said Zhang Xiangmu, director of Equipment Industry Department, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. |
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Filed under: News on CSR Asia — Jimmy Huen @ 17:39 pm |
Fortune recently announced its annual top 100 “Most Accountable Companies”, comparing the world’s largest corporations in the Fortune Global 500 by the quality of their commitment to social and environmental goals. The companies were examined in four criteria: strategic intent, governance and management systems, engagement and operational performance. Among the top performing Asian companies, eight are Japanese, with Toyota Motor topping the list (#15), four are South Korean (top one is SK Holdings #51) and three are Chinese (with State Grid ranked at #55). Click here for the full list. |
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Filed under: Labour China — Jolly Cheng @ 15:35 pm |
Nowadays, companies provide different kind of jobs-related trainings for employees to improve work skills. The company in this article (in Chinese only) has taken the concept a step further than most. It has a unique training scheme to improve hygiene conditions in the workplace; that is, toilet training. Employees are taught how to use the toilet properly, and a manager even demonstrates the proper toilet use in front of employees (don't worry; this is all done fully clothed...). However, the company's good intentions have failed to gain support from staff. Some employees complained about the way they were being treated and felt insulted. |
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Hopewell Holdings announced yesterday that the company had decided to give in to decades of community pressure and drastically reduce the size of its proposed " Mega Tower" complex in Wan Chai, Hong Kong. The Mega Tower was proposed 30 years ago when the company started acquiring land in the area. The firm stuck doggedly to the design despite increasingly vocal opposition from residents complaining that views and air flow would be blocked and that increases in traffic in the area. Never before has a developer willingly scaled down the size of a project in such a dramatic manner. What is to be known as Hopewell Centre II was to have ranked among our city's tallest buildings, but has been reduced from 93 storeys to 55. More here, here and here (the last one is in Chinese). |
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When you’re munching on your “finger lickin’ good” KFC fried chicken, would you ever imagine you’re actually eating trash? Over the last week, this webpage (Chinese only) - consisting of a scanned story from a local news magazine called Next Magazine - has been widely circulated. It reveals a shocking story about a KFC store in Hong Kong where trashed food has been picked up shortly before the closing time of the shop to “avoid reheating the frying machine”. The outrageous behaviour is said to have been the combined result of young workers not willing to stay long after the official business hours to clean up the kitchen because of the low wages, and the shop management’s demand to make their branch an “A grade” one by saving costs. Response from some of my friends is obvious – they’re not going to go to KFC (at least for a long while). |
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Filed under: CSR Asia Weekly — Yoshi Ko @ 19:03 pm |
This week's newsletter is the second issue covering the CSR Asia Summit 2008, which took place on the 3rd and 4th November in Bangkok. It includes 11 pieces of panel sessions review. We will post the rest on next week's issue.
If you'd like to be included in our e-mailout list, send us an email and subscribe. We upload and email CSR Asia Weekly out every Wednesday. |
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Filed under: Human rights India — Jolly Cheng @ 18:03 pm |
A report from the BCC has revealed the seriousness of police torture in India. There are around 1.8 milion cases of police torture each year in India. The victims are generally (low-caste) Dalits, tribals and Muslims. Torture is also carried out at the bidding of those in power, including landlords and companies who put pressure on police to carry out torture. It is allegedly common for policemen in India to believe they are the arbiters of justice; rather than going to court, police deliver justice. More here including victims' stories. |
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Forest clearing is threatening 236 plant species and 51 animal species in Kalimantan with exctinction. Orangutans, owa monkeys and tarsius are the most endangered animals, increasingly losing their sources of food and water as forests are cleared for palm oil plantations. The number of animals, especially orangutans, is declining as fast as 9 – 10 percent a year. According to the Center of Orangutan Protection, if nothing is done to prevent this, around 8.400 orangutans outside the protected forest will disappear within three years. Read more here. |
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Filed under: China Governance Consumer rights — Peter Zhu @ 14:38 pm |
Want to look for a therapist by searching Baidu? Sorry, but you might find a “professor” who doesn’t exist at all. This is what CCTV reported recently in a story accusing China's number 1 search engine of rigging search rankings. According to CCTV, the principle of the system is simple: the more money paid, the higher the ranking. Moreover, according to a post from Tianya BBS, “deleting negative news” is promoted by Baidu as an added-value service. In question are the credibility of Baidu's search results and business ethics, with the company Baidu accused of “blackmail marketing”. Baidu was ledgedly involved in a PR protection deal in the scandal of Sanlu tainted milk powder. More here (Chinese only)
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Filed under: Labour China Regulation — Peter Zhu @ 12:55 pm |
The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security has issued a directive asking local governments to freeze minimum wages to avoid putting additional pressure on companies already feeling the pinch of the global economic crisis. More here (Chinese only). |
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Filed under: China OHS — Peter Zhu @ 11:44 am |
Thirty-four miners were trapped in a flooded coal mine on Monday morning in Henan. The accident happened at about 7:20 a.m in the Gaomendong Coal Mine in Jiaxian County of Pingdingshan City, when 42 miners were working underground. Eight escaped, but 32 others were trapped. According to latest news, rescuers pulled 32 of the 34 trapped miners out of the coal mine alive. One died and another was still missing. The official of State Administration of Work Safety said the coal mine in Jiaxian County was operating illegally, when the accident happened. More here. |
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Filed under: Labour China Regulation — Elyse Chen @ 11:29 am |
China's Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS) issued a notice on Monday that says investigations should be carried out concerning individual companies' possible layoffs, especially labour-intensive factories. The labour situation of companies that go bankrupt should be closely monitored. Emergency plans should be formulated in order to better prevent and deal with incidents involving a large group of unemployed workers, and make sure to report to higher level of the government and make appropriate arrangement as soon as possible, it said. More here. |
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Two weeks before the start of key talks on global warming, the UN's climate-change watchdog issued figures on Monday that reflected poor headway by industrialised countries towards curbing dangerous carbon pollution. Greenhouse-gas emissions by 40 so-called Annex 1 countries under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change were almost unchanged in 2006, falling by a mere 0.1 percent from 2005, the UNFCCC said. Here is the story. |
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Filed under: China Companies Product responsibility — Poland Li @ 16:56 pm |
Sanlu milk has reappeared on Chinese shelves two months after the melamine scandal that killed four and hospitalised tens of thousands. Fresh milk produced by one of Sanlu Group's affiliated dairy plants in Xingtai (a city in the southern part of Hebei) made a low-key comeback on 1 November and has since been sold in Henan and Shandong. However, Xingtai is currently the only dairy to continue using Sanlu's name. Though some shoppers are dubious, many others expressed confidence in the Sanlu brand. Nevertheless, daily sales now average 50 tonnes, less than 20 per cent of pre-scandal sales, said Cao Zhanwu, marketing director of Xingtai Sanlu Dairies Co. Ltd. More here.
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Led by Yiwu city’s federation of trade unions, “ Yiwu's CSR standards” are being tested in Beiyuan Street, an industrial area. Thirteen benchmarking categories have been laid out, assessing corporates’ performance in areas of labour relations, environmental protection and social engagement. Participating companies will be rated in classes of A, B, C, D and E by a third party certifying body on a biannual basis. Here is the story (available in Chinese only). |
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