BANGKOK, Thailand — In a bid to stop forced labor, torture and other violations in Burma, international unions have blacklisted more than 325 foreign corporations which allegedly finance the Southeast Asian country's military dictatorship.

American Express, Citigroup, Unocal, Halliburton, 3M, Lonely Planet, Air Canada, ChevronTexaco, Compaq, Saks 5th Avenue, Hutchison Whampoa, Mitsubishi, Bangkok Bank and other big names were listed alongside lesser known companies.

The blacklist is on a website (www.global-unions.org) hyperlinked to the corporations' own homepages, resulting in some company executives confirming their business activities, names and addresses in Burma.

The blacklist was created by Global Unions which said the database is "jointly owned and managed by a number of international trade union organizations."

Global Unions appeared led by the Belgium-based International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), which began in 1949 and now claims 157 million members through worldwide affiliates.

The Washington-based American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) was also affiliated with the ICFTU, the website's database said.

The International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Union, along with the International Metalworkers' Federation, the International Transport Workers' Federation and other labor groups were also involved in Global Unions' online blacklist.

Announcing the database's latest update on Oct. 28, the ICFTU said "over 325 foreign companies with business links to Burma...sustain the brutal and repressive dictatorship in that country.

"While some prominent companies have withdrawn since the initial release of the database one year ago, Global Unions has added a further 92 companies which continue to do business with Burma or have been pursuing business links with the junta."

The ICFTU wanted "governments around the world to impose a ban on investment in the country, as well as for companies to stop doing business there."

The newest additions to the blacklist included General Motors for its "20 percent stake" in Suzuki to build cars and motorcycles in Burma.

"In Burma, on any given day, several hundred thousand men, women, children and elderly people are forced to work against their will by the country's military rulers," Global Unions said.

"Forced labor can include building army camps, roads, bridges, railroads, etc. Refusal to work may lead to being detained, tortured, raped or killed."

Proof was contained in a recently released dossier by the International Labor Organization (ILO), it added.

"The top military hierarchy is directly responsible for the massive use of forced labor in Burma. This was also clearly established by the ILO Commission of Inquiry," Global Unions said.

U.S. Ambassador to Thailand, James A. Kelly, said in March "the Burmese government's reluctance to satisfactorily address forced labor and agree to the suggestions of the International Labor Organization is troubling."

London-based Amnesty International, the U.S. State Department and other monitors have also consistently charged Burma with forced labor, torture, extrajudicial killings and other atrocities.

Volunteer Work

Burma has denied these accusations and described alleged forced labor as a "tradition" of "volunteer" work. The military regime has also said foreign boycotts were plots to bankrupt the Texas-sized country so it could be dominated and exploited.

On Global Unions' website, each blacklisted company had an "evidence" link allegedly proving it does business with Burma. Web surfers were asked to contact the companies' top executives and demand disinvestment.

"If you know about a company with business links to Burma, let us know," Global Unions said.

"The international trade union movement believes that it is impossible to conduct any trade, or engage in other economic activity with Burma, without providing direct or indirect support, mostly financial, to the military junta," it said. Companies were targeted because they "appear to have some form of relationship with Burma."

This included trade, investment or other business, or promoting tourism.

Lonely Planet travel guide books were blacklisted because the Australian company defied demands by activists to boycott tourism in Burma, a country also known as Myanmar.

Some companies' responses to the blacklist also appeared online — admitting, defending or denying involvement in Burma. Unocal, for example, pointed to a case it was currently fighting in court.

Vicarious Liability

"The judge allowed part of the lawsuit against Unocal to go to trial early next year in California Superior Court," Unocal said on its own website which had been hyperlinked to the blacklist.

"The trial will focus on 'vicarious liability,' that is, whether Unocal is responsible for human rights abuses allegedly committed by the Burmese military in connection with the construction of the Yadana natural gas pipeline project.

"Unocal Corporation will vigorously contest these claims," the gas and oil giant added.

"The company said it has always acknowledged the challenges of investing in a country with a long history of ethnic conflict that is ruled by an authoritarian military government," said Unocal, based in El Segundo, California.

New York-based Philip Morris's attempt to do good in Burma was cited by Global Unions as a ruse.

"Philip Morris had joined the military junta's Department of Defense Services Intelligence, and Burma's foreign affairs ministry, in sponsoring an art contest" in Burma during November 2001, the blacklist noted.

Chicago-based advertising agency Leo Burnett's own homepage had a Burma link which said 25 people were employed by its Myanmar Media International representative in the Burmese capital, Rangoon — a city also known as Yangon.

Citigroup supported Burma's regime by financing neighboring Thailand's Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Co. which, when completed, will benefit a pipeline partially owned by the Burmese government, according to the blacklist.

Citigroup responded to the allegation by insisting it complied with all U.S. laws which impose sanctions on investments in Burma. Otis, the Connecticut escalator company, was cited for its involvement in Burma via its Singapore office.

Zippo was listed because the Pennsylvania-based manufacturer of lighters had a branch in Burma.

Other U.S. companies on the blacklist included Boeing, Caterpillar, DHL, McGraw-Hill, Neiman Marcus, Pratt and Whitney, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Schlumberger and Verisign.

In response, Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa said its subsidiary had "a small cargo handling facility in Burma."

Hutchison said it was "an ethical employer" and provided "every individual with fair employment terms."

Isolation

Mitsubishi replied from Japan: "We do not think that the time has come to totally isolate the Myanmar people despite the character of their government."

Burma forbids independent workers' unions.

Any worker who protests "abuse of workers' rights" can be fired, detained or suffer "torture at the hands of the ruling military," Global Unions warned.

"In no way is this list exhaustive," Global Unions said. "It is more likely the 'tip of the iceberg'."

Japanese author Hideyuki Takano, in a separate report, said after a recent two-month, clandestine journey through northern Burma that he found "forced labor and the suppression of local languages was still widespread, according to local people."

The regime has started to change its tactics against disgruntled workers due to world opinion, Mr. Takano added.

"It seems that the Burmese government is becoming smarter. Mass arrests, beatings and extortion have gradually been replaced by exploitative 'official taxes' in recent years," said Mr. Takano, author of a book titled, The Shore Beyond Good and Evil: A Report from Inside Burma's Opium Kingdom.

With or without an international boycott, poverty is crippling most Burmese, one of the poorest nations on earth.

"The rise in food prices and widespread hunger has become such a problem that women and children can be seen all over begging for food," said Than Khe, chairperson of the militant opposition All Burma Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF).

"We must use every means at our disposable" to force a dialogue with the regime, he said in a Nov. 1 statement rallying his "comrades".

A "popular uprising" will soon erupt thanks to a "lack of basic economic necessities" and other problems, Than Khe predicted.

"Comrades, we have constantly worked to spark non-cooperation with the regime, activate peoples' participation in the struggle, and to organize a mass movement. Now those sparks are about to turn to flames on their own."

Global Unions Boycott Burma

by Richard S. Ehrlich