Focus on the Corporation - The 10 Worst Corporatioins of 2005

Delphi: In October, Delphi CEO Steve Miller took his company into bankruptcy, with the explicit purpose of trashing the social contract between unionized auto workers in the United States and the auto industry. He proposed slashing worker wages from $27 an hour to a mere 10 bucks. And, in a fit of staggering arrogance, Miller and Delphi simultaneously proposed huge bonuses for company executives.

DuPont: Deadly chemicals from DuPont's perfluorinated, chemical-based coatings and related sources are now in the blood of 95 percent of people in the United States. DuPont has claimed that it does not know how the chemicals got there. But Glenn Evers, formerly one of the company's top technical experts, says that DuPont hid for decades that it was polluting people's blood with a hyper-persistent chemical associated with the grease-resistant coatings on paper food packaging. (For a complete history, see www.ewg.org.) In December, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency agreed to settle claims against DuPont for a paltry $16.5 million. On a happier note, the agency and DuPont announced that the chemicals will be phased out by 2015.

Ford: Ford Motor Company's factory in Mahwah, New Jersey once the largest auto assembly plant in the nation, dumped millions of gallons of paint sludge -- enough to fill two of the three tubes of the Lincoln Tunnel -- into a now-residential area, revealed a series published in the Bergen Record (see www.toxiclegacy.com). Tests commissioned by the Record found lead, arsenic and xylenes in the sludge -- some at 100 times the levels the government considers safe. Reporters with the Record dug up documents showing that Ford executives knew as early as 34 years ago that its waste had contaminated a stream that feeds the Wanaque Reservoir.

Suez: Suez has been a leading purveyor and beneficiary of the global trend of water privatization -- the selling off of public water systems to private entities, or the turning over of control and management of public systems to corporations. The result has been lousy service, jacked up rates and targeted efforts for well-off households at the expense of the poor. In a notable case in El Alto, Bolivia, mass demonstrations in January 2005 led the Bolivian government to cancel a water privatization contract with Aguas del Illimani, of which Suez is a major shareholder.