Thursday, May 31, 2012
Ikea logging in Karelia (photo: SVT)
Executives at Ikea are probably looking forward to the start of June, given how bad the month of May was for the Swedish furniture giant.
The latest piece of bad news for Ikea involved accusations that the company has been cutting down old-growth forests Russia to manufacture its products. Swedwood, a fully-owned Ikea subsidiary, has reportedly logged 200- to 400-year-old spruce and pine trees in northwestern Karelia near the border with Finland.
Ikea has used the slogan “We Love Wood” to demonstrate its commitment to doing business in a sustainable way. Another one of the company’s slogans is “If you want to change the world, you have to start with yourself.”
In addition to allegedly cutting down old trees, Ikea was accused recently of spying on some of its employees in France. The company fired four executives after attempts were made to collect police files on several workers, including a union leader.
And if that wasn’t enough embarrassment, the company faces allegations that it used East German and Cuban prisoners during the Cold War to manufacture its products during the 1970s and 1980s.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
To Learn More:
IKEA Supplier Swedwood in Karelia: TV documentary Exposes Impacts of FSC Certified Clear-Cuts in HCV Forests (FSC-Watch) (video)
Ikea Products Made From 600-Year-Old Trees (by Ida Karlsson, Inter Press Service)
Ikea Faces Allegations That It Used Cuban Prisoners To Make Its Products (by Kate Connolly, The Guardian)
Swedish Companies Take Advantage of Cheap Labor in U.S. (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)
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