As part of a worldwide movement to end Unocal's support for the Burmese military regime, the AFL-CIO and the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) urged Unocal Corporation shareholders to support two proposals urging the adoption of best corporate practices in the company's worldwide operations. Shareholders will vote on the resolutions at the company's annual meeting on May 20.
While many global corporations have withdrawn from Burma, Unocal continues to participate in a $1.2 billion natural gas joint venture with a firm owned by the Burmese military dictatorship. Widely condemned for its systematic use of forced labor and other human rights abuses, Burma is subject to U.S. sanctions against new investment. Unocal's investment has exposed Unocal to potential significant liabilities resulting from two lawsuits in U.S. courts filed by Burmese refugees alleging Unocal's involvement in human rights violations.
The first resolution, sponsored by the LongView Collective Investment Fund of the Amalgamated Bank and the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union, urges the Unocal board of directors to adopt and implement an employee policy based on the United Nations' International Labor Organization (ILO) Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.
The second resolution urges the Unocal board of directors to appoint a special committee of the board to review ways to link executive compensation with the company's social performance. It is sponsored by Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers, the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, As You Sow Foundation, and Walden Asset Management.
The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS), one of the world's largest pension funds with assets totaling $156 billion, has already announced its support for both shareholder proposals.
"The ICEM and the global labor movement have made clear that we will not sit back and watch as multinational corporations continue to prop up the brutal military dictatorship in Burma," said Fred Higgs, ICEM General Secretary. "We will continue to stand with our brothers and sisters in Burma's outlawed trade union and pro-democracy movements and demand that Unocal follow the example of the many other companies that have disinvested their operations from Burma until full democracy and human rights are restored."
"Working people investing in Unocal want to make sure that Unocal isn't bolstering a regime in Burma which uses forced labor and commits other human rights abuses," said Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer.
"The long overdue recent release of Burma democracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is a positive sign, but the military junta has yet to show that it is genuinely changing. Until the pro-democracy and trade union movements are allowed full freedom without curbs or harassment, the international demand for economic pressure on the Burmese regime is likely to continue," said Trumka.
The activities of the two labor federations are part of a global initiative of trade unions to restore democracy and respect for human rights in Burma. In November 2000, the ILO took the extraordinary measure of urging its members to "review their relations with Burma" and "ensure that such relations do not perpetuate the system of forced or compulsory labour in that country." This has prompted an expanded effort among labor unions to urge foreign companies to withdraw from Burma.
The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions and the European Trade Union Confederation issued a call in April for the European Union and its member governments to implement effective economic measures to put pressure on Burma. The United Kingdom's trade union federation, the Trades Union Congress, has urged UK investors to support the Amalgamated Bank/PACE resolution.
The AFL-CIO represents 13 million working men and women who participate in the capital markets as investors through defined benefit and defined contribution plans, as well as through mutual funds and individual accounts. The ICEM is a global trade union federation representing 20 million workers in 110 nations, including more than nine million energy workers.