"It's absolutely unacceptable to continue to rely on corporate monitors," said HSAS member Benjamin L. McKean '02, who is also a Crimson editor. "Pricewaterhouse does not have the trust of these workers. They know that Pricewaterhouse is working for their bosses and not for their best interest."

Pricewaterhouse yesterday denied O'Rourke's charges.

Randy Rankin, Pricewaterhouse's global leader of the contractor compliance practice, said O'Rourke was only present at a couple of inspections out of the thousands the corporations conducts each year.

"Dr. O'Rourke's work is based on two visits which he somehow projects to 6,000," said Rankin, referring to the industry-leading number of inspections Pricewaterhouse made last year. "[His report] reflects his bias towards certain issues, but also contains inaccuracies and inconsistencies."

Rankin said Pricewaterhouse does take worker input into account, by using an indigenous inspection team, fluent in the native language, to conduct confidential interviews of randomly selected workers--contrary to O'Rourke's charges.

Rankin also said the labor and health violations cited by O'Rourke are not accurate, given the existing laws in the locales visited.

"I can't stress enough that while ours is not a perfect process, it is an evolving process," Rankin said. "It is the most comprehensive effort available today and making a real difference in the world."

Rankin also said the report's team of consultants, including O'Rourke, were responsible for hiring Pricewaterhouse and provided the directives for the company to follow.