For an example of a truly bad company look no further than UK retailer Argos (no link as I don’t want to help give the scum any business). The arrogant management at Argos has decided that rather than having intelligent discussions with its trade union partners in Ireland, that it would rather fly in scabs from the UK to try and bust the industrial action in its Irish stores.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of the dispute between Argos and Irish trade union Mandate, it is morally indefensible for Argos management to try and bust legitimate industrial action by flying in scab labour from abroad. Especially since one of the union’s requests is simply that it should be allowed to negotiate pay rises on behalf of its members. There is a legitimate argument around what percentage rise it should be, but it should be a given that a union can negotiate on behalf of its members.

It’s a shame that Argos has turned out to be such a reprehensible company, as I’d actually been planning to do quite a lot of my Christmas shopping there. Not now, as I’m joining the boycott. You can also join a Facebook group.

Argos free returns – make them pay

If you really want to stick it to the Argos management, there is an even better way than just the boycott. Argos offers “Free returns within 30days” so that means if you’ve bought anything in the last month you can take it back, reclaim the money and buy it from a more socially responsible store.

Recyclethis.co.uk is a newish website/blog that provides “creative ideas for reusing and recycling random stuff”.

Stephen ‘PR Blogger’ Davies has been asking what is the future for the regional press in the brave new world of social media and consumer generated media. Well I found out about Leeds-based Recyclethis in a short two paragraph story in the Yorkshire Evening Post that comes through my letterbox. I can’t imagine for a minute having read this story on-line. I can scan my whole paper YEP in two or three minutes with another five or so if I spot articles of interest. Absolutely no way I could do it that quickly on-line. Slightly ironic that I’m praising dead tree media in a post about recycling.

XP: Stuart’s Soapbox

Technorati : Leeds, PR, Public Relations, recycling

AfriGadget is a fantastic new blog about “solving everyday problems with African ingenuity”. It’s all about using simple materials to make stuff that is “useful for an African’s everyday life”.

One example is the wooden bicycle – handcrafted, locally made bikes using wood and rubber for the tyres.

This is one blog that I think really deserves some link love so please give it a plug.

via The World Bank’s Private Sector Development Blog.

Technorati : Africa, blog, development

While I’m blasting Asda Wal-mart for its unethical union-bashing policies it appears that in the USA it is using Edelman PR to identify bloggers who have written sympathetic or positive posts about it. Edelman is then asking the bloggers for permission to send regular updates of Wal-mart news that they might be interested in blogging about.

To me Edelman’s approach of asking bloggers before pitching (and more importantly reading their blogs first) is the right way to go about it. What is disturbing is the material they appear to be sending to the bloggers.

My big problem with Wal-mart is that it ain’t a very nice company. In the UK Asda used to have a fantastic reputation as an employee and community friendly supermarket. Since being acquired by Wal-mart it has rapidly gone down hill.

Businesses must understand that corporate social responsibility must be real. It can’t be a facade which is what Wal-mart appears to think it can get away with. Saying nice things while doing nasty things isn’t going to cut it.

Tags: CSR, corporate social responsibility, Asda, Wal-mart, GMB, trade unions

Congratulations to Matt Carter,  the previous general secretary of the Labour Party who has become the managing director of the new London office of WPP-owned opinion researcher Penn, Schoen and Berland.

PR Week quotes Matt as saying that PSB intends to "take messages from the campaign trail and apply them to the board room". It will be very interesting to see how this pans out as Matt is a very clever and conscientious chap (who in the past I had have the privilege of working with).

PSB currently has six staff in the UK and counts BP and Vodafone amongst its clients. PSB London is based at the offices of Burson Marstellar, another WPP-owned firm.

I’d be very interested in knowing what PSB’s thoughts are on social media as I believe that long-term it has major implications for PSB’s areas of expertise that include message testing, crisis communications, elite and opinion leader studies, visual testing etc.

PR Week’s diary column carried an interesting snippet that I think deserves far greater attention. It reports that Portland PR, the firm set-up by ex-Downing Street aide Tim Allan, has been engaged in some appalling activity.

On behalf of its client Leeds-based Asda, owned by the notorious anti-employee Wal-mart, it ran a vicious anti-trade union campaign that was described by an employment tribunal as "highly disparaging of the process of collective bargaining". The tribunal made a £850,000 judgment against Asda. Doesn’t seem Portland did a very good job on that one does it?

I’m a big believer in ethical business. It is my personal mantra. I strongly believe that their is nothing incompatible with running your own business, even a PR company!, and being a good democratic socialist.

And then you get people like Tim Allan. What does he think he was playing at? GMB general secretary Paul Kenny told PR Week "If ever there was a reason for MPs to look at what people like Allan get up to, this is it. He is giving PR a bad name."

I personally hope that Tim doesn’t have the brass neck to be a member of the Labour Party. In fact that’s a very interesting question as rule 2A.8 of the Labour Party rule book states that "No member of the party shall engage in conduct which in the opinion of the NCC is prejudicial, or in any act which in the opinion of the NCC is grossly detrimental to the party."

Engaging in this sort of unethical trade union bashing campaigning certainly appears to me to be "grossly detrimental to the party".

Rule 2A.6 (b) states that a member should  "if applicable, be a member of a trade union affiliated to the Trade Union Congress or considered by the NEC as a bona fide trade union and contribute to the political fund of that union (a person who does not contribute to the political fund of her/ his trade union may not be an individual member of the party)".

I’m guessing that the people involved in the Portland PR campaign would probably also be breaching their own trade union’s membership rules.

In a recently leaked memo Tim Allan advised his ex-employer BSkyB that it was important to tap into his Labour contacts such as Tessa Jowell, Gordon Brown, David Milliband, Ruth Kelly, Alan Johnson and Alistair Darling. I’m not sure that any of these would look to highly on an invite from Portland PR any more.

Cross posted to Stuart’s Soapbox.

Academics from the business school at Leeds Metropolitan University have published research into the relationships between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the media.

In the Yorkshire Evening Post report Dr Ralph Tench (PR course leader?) of Leeds Metropolitan University, said: "Many journalists that we questioned believe too may
companies highlight activities under the banner of CSR that are really just
publicity stunts and photo opportunities. This has damaged the reputation of
CSR."

The research also determined that some journalists believed that the
majority of companies only paid lip service to CSR and did so only to meet legal
requirements."

Richard Bailey, one of Ralph’s colleagues at LMU, might have something to add on his PR Studies blog.