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Date: Thu, 2 Oct 97 08:41:38 CDT
From: rich%pencil@VTVM1.CC.VT.EDU (Rich Winkel)
Subject: Texaco's Burma Pull-Out Welcomed
/** labr.global: 312.0 **/
** Topic: Texaco's Burma Pull-Out Welcomed **
** Written 9:53 PM Oct 1, 1997 by labornews in cdp:labr.global **
ICEM UPDATE
No. 55/1997
30 September 1997
A decision by US-based energy multinational Texaco to pull out of a natural gas project in Burma (Myanmar) has been welcomed by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM).
The Burmese military regime is one of the world's most repressive dictatorships. Largely due to international trade union pressure, Burma is already subject to a range of EU and US trade sanctions over its systematic use of forced labour and child labour.
There is also mounting international concern over the Burmese regime's involvement in the international narcotics trade. The state-run Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), the Burmese joint venture partner of the various energy multinationals operating in the country, is reportedly the major channel for the laundering of the military's earnings from illegal sales of heroin.
Robert E. Wages, President of US oil, chemical and atomic workers'union the OCAW and a member of the ICEM Executive, commented: "We believe the Texaco decision to leave Burma sends another message to the oil companies that corporate downsizing and exploit ing US workers to raise capital for investments in totalitarian countries, where slave labour and wholesale repression are routine, will not go unchallenged." "Texaco's example should be followed by other global energy companies currently active in Burma," urged ICEM General Secretary Vic Thorpe. "The oil multinationals must either use their great influence to end the repression in Burma, or they must leave the country without further delay. Big Oil must use its clout or else pull out."
Individual ICEM UPDATE items can be supplied in other languages on request. Our print magazines ICEM INFO and ICEM GLOBAL are available in Arabic, English, French, German, Russian, Scandinavian and Spanish.
Visit our World Wide Web site at http://www.icem.org/
ICEM
avenue Emile de Beco 109, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium.
tel.+32.2.6262020 fax +32.2.6484316
Internet: icem@geo2.poptel.org.uk
Editor: Ian Graham, Information Officer
Publisher: Vic Thorpe, General Secretary.