At least seven big foreign-owned companies, including Wal-Mart, have expressed alarm over cases of killings, violence and attacks against workers on strike in Cavite.

In their joint letter on Nov. 7 to President Arroyo, the companies — American Eagle Outfitters, Gap Inc., Jones Apparel Group, Liz Claiborne Inc., PVH, Polo Ralph Lauren and Wal-Mart, expressed alarm on behalf of their companies over the "violent attacks on striking workers and the assaults and killings of labor rights promoters."

By Evelyn Iritani

For more than a year, the Bangladeshi garment workers toiled as long as 16 hours a day at a factory in Jordan's free trade zone, sewing women's apparel for companies including J.C. Penney Co. and Target Corp.

They received less than 50 cents an hour for working as many as 100 hours a week, labor activists said. Last spring, 175 workers walked out of the Atateks garment factory in Al Tajamouat Industrial City in Sahab, Jordan, at the end of an eight-hour shift after their request for more money and better working conditions was refused.

By Mark Stevenson

MEXICO CITY -- U.S. and local activists formed a common front on Sunday to fight the expansion of Wal-Mart stores in Mexico, saying small stores and the national culture are under threat from what is already the world's biggest retailer.

Activists from several U.S. groups and 10 Mexican labor, community and commercial organizations wrapped up a two-day meeting dubbed the First Binational U.S.-Mexico Meeting Against Wal-Mart.

KAI RYSSDAL: The sneaker company turned full-service athletic apparel maker Nike released its latest report on corporate responsibility today. Its third since 2001. The first two broke new ground in the movement to make companies more accountable for how they get their goods to consumers. Marketplace's Jeff Tyler has the details on report number three.

JEFF TYLER: Corporate responsibility at Nike means more than crisis management. Nike's Hannah Jones says corporate good-citizenship is now integrated into the business model...  

Excerpt from article:

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Chinese companies may be the next source of job creation in Wal-Mart's hometown, following in the footsteps of U.S. companies that have flocked to northwest Arkansas to work more closely with the world's largest retailer.

A leading executive search firm, Cameron Smith Associates, and another area company that works with foreign producers will host a conference in China next month to show manufacturers there how they can boost business by opening local offices to manage their accounts with Wal-Mart Stores Inc...