Editorial: PR strategy

NorWatch has a lot of contact with many of these information workers, and most of them do their job well. They are professional people who provide service whether we are looking for detailed information or general assessments.

A few companies, however, have chosen a different strategy. In their opinion, the best way to serve the company, is a strategy of non-cooperation. Polite requests are turned down bluntly, and nobody has ever "time" to provide anything.

NorWatch finds it important that the companies themselves give comments to the information we print. Unfortunately, this causes delays, when we bother to wait for something we do not get anyway.

- Mustad carries out mass dismissals at the company's factory in the Philippines. Their explanation is that sales are down. Meanwhile they use subcontractors who pay the workers extreemely low wages.

- For many years, Mustad's payments of national insurance contributions have been late, at the employees' expense. The workers have reported this to the police, and they have made fruitless efforts to make the Mustad management in Norway take action.

- Chemical waste from the factory has been buried in the ground without any safety measures or treatment. The Mustad management promises improvements.

Norwatch Newsletter 13/99