The Ethical Business seal represents people who care about humanity and feel a responsibility to act on that care. It’s about protecting citizens from neglect by the market and from exploitation by corporations. It’s about supporting legislation that encourages responsible, fair and ethical business.
Unfortunately, corporations violate the public interest because they can be legally required to do so. If managers do not maximize corporate profit, they may be sued by their shareholders. This creates incentives to lower labor costs, provide fewer health-care benefits, push environmental laws to their limits, and externalize as many costs as possible.
For a corporation, compliance with law is a matter of whether it’s cost effective. In other words, what is the penalty, what is the probability of being caught, how much does that add up to, and how much does it cost to comply - and which is bigger?
Right now the only real incentive for a corporation to act in the common good is if it is perceived as good for business.
We believe that when a corporation contaminates the environment, that it is only fair to hold that corporation financially responsible for cleaning up their mess.
When a corporation overcharges our government, they need to be held financially accountable and penalized for stealing.
When a business endangers the health and safety of its workers so they can cut costs, they must be held financially responsible.
Ethical Business demands regulating reckless business practices to provide a fair and just way of protecting citizens, protecting the environment, and protecting the theft of public or private funds.