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Issue No. 202 | 10 November 2003 |
Governing the Corporates
Interview: Union for the Dispossessed Unions: Joel's Law National Focus: Spring Carnival Bad Boss: Fina and Fiends Industrial: The Price of War Economics: Who's Got What History: Containing Discontent Review: An Honourable Wally Poetry: The Colours of Discontent
Taskforce Sleeps As Cranes Crash Scabies, Filth in Upmarket Annandale Race That Couldn�t Stop Nangwarry Mandarins in $120m Disappearing Act
The Soapbox Sport Politics Postcard
Labor Council of NSW |
News BAT Stubs Out Junta
BAT�s withdrawal, announced in London last week, came on the first anniversary of an international campaign to force the tobacco giant to stop profiting from its relationship with Burma�s military dictatorship.
The ACTU's aid and development agency, APHEDA - Union Aid Abroad, says the "huge victory" is a pointer to what can be achieved by ordinary people and trade unions campaigning for human rights. "They had to be dragged out kicking and screaming but at least they're out," Union Aid Abroad campaigns officer, Sally Castle said. "If a company like BAT can be forced out of Burma, any company can. BAT has faced mounting pressure since campaigners began drawing attention to its 60/40 shareholding with the military dictatorship, last November. Last week, the world's second-largest tobacco company announced it was pulling out of Burma with "regret", saying the decision had been based on a request from the British Government. The request followed a crackdown by the Burmese military junta, earlier this year, in which prod-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi was re-arrested. Human rights campaigners allege dozens of her supporters were killed in an ambush by government backers. Suu Kyi won the last election staged in Burma but the result was over-ruled by the defeated military. BAT has completed an agreement to sell its 60 percent stake in Rothmans of Pall Mall Myanmar to a Singapore-based investment company. The company had been deluged with thousands of postcards and emails from campaign supporters in more than 50 countries. Burmese Federation of Trade Unions Human Rights Department secretary, Saw Min Lwin, hailed BAT's withdrawal as "a blow to the military regime". BAT is the latest company to pull out of Burma. Earlier this year, Intrepid Travel announced it was ending tourist trips. The Burma campaign has also succeeded in getting Premier Oil, Triumph International, and almost every major steel retailer out of the country.
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