Trousers Down

The 'HAITIAN' fit - ideal for a mud based diet -100 fiats to you, mate

A Wikileaks post published on The Nation shows that the Obama Administration fought to keep Haitian wages at 31 cents an hour.

Can they be talking about the same company?

The more we win, the more change we can make. That, too, is part of our culture because we are a company that believes we’re here for something bigger than ourselves. Like our founder Levi Strauss, we apply original, courageous thinking to seemingly intractable problems. From environmental sustainability to ethical product sourcing, we look at the big picture of corporate citizenship, focusing on the toughest, most complex challenges facing our world today.

We have a long and distinguished history of corporate citizenship, including our unwavering commitment to responsible business practices. To ensure we provide our employees with a clear set of standards and guidance for conducting our business with integrity and the highest degree of compliance with the law, we established our Worldwide Code of Business Conduct.

The Global Anti-Bribery and Anti-Corruption Policy provides additional, specific guidance on two critical sections of the Worldwide Code of Business Conduct – Compliance with Laws, Rules and Regulations and Government Officials.

Must be a different one.

So far, the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission has not done much. Less than 10 percent of the $9 billion pledged by foreign donors has been delivered, and not all of that money has been spent. Other than rebuilding the international airport and clearing the principal urban arteries of rubble, no major infrastructure rebuilding - roads, ports, housing, communications - has begun. According to news reports, of the more than 1,500 U.S. contracts doled out worth $267 million, only 20, worth $4.3 million, have gone to Haitian firms. The rest have gone to U.S. firms, which almost exclusively use U.S. suppliers. Although these foreign contractors employ Haitians, mostly on a cash-for-work basis, the bulk of the money and profits are reinvested in the United States.