Issue No 94 | 04 May 2001 | |
NewsBoycott Trade, Travel with Burma
The ACTU has called on Australians to boycott travel and ban all trade with Burma as part of an international union protest against human rights abuses in the country. "More than a million people in Burma are now subjected to forced labour on construction projects including tourism infrastructure," ACTU President Sharan Burrow says. "It's time travel companies and travelers took a stand against the outrageous oppression of the Burmese people at the hands of the military dictatorship in Rangoon." Ms Burrow was speaking during the International Day of Union Action on Burma, when she met with the President of the Federation of Trade Unions Burma (FTUB), U Lla Oo. The ACTU has written to more than 50 companies operating in Australia to seek assurances that they have severed any commercial links with the Burmese junta. Only eight have declared they have no such ties. Four of the companies have so far admitted to their commercial involvement in Burma, but many more are expected to be reconsidering their ties with the regime. "We congratulate those far-sighted companies that have ceased trading with Burma. Their example should be followed by all other companies, particularly travel operators, that are continuing to give comfort to this dictatorship," Burrow says. "The Federal Government needs to take a much stronger stance to ensure an end to forced labour and human rights atrocities in Burma."
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Interview: Global Action The CFMEU has been a world leader in fighting the war on global corporations. John Maitland has been one of the generals. Unions: Sisters United In her May Day address, Bus Union state president Pat Ryan looks at the role women have played in the labour movement. Politics: M1 and the Trade Unions Phil Davey was one of the forces behind S11 but chose to sit out M1. He looks at this week's action. History: Il Duce Roberto? His modern-day fan club might not like it, but Rowan Cahill argues wartime PM Robert Menzies sailed close to the winds of Fascism. International: Cuban Call for Global Labour Rights An international meeting of union representatives in Cuba has vowed to start a campaign to defend workers rights from the effects of globalisation. Economics: The G-Word ACTU President Sharan Burrow asks if there's a better way forward for global trade. Media: Birth Of A Nation East Timor's young journalists are struggling with language barriers and technical difficulties most Australian media professionals wouldn't be able to comprehend. But they're keen and eager to learn. Review: The Tremulous Hopes of the Fifties Behind the the good times mythology of the 1950s was a desperate quest for the ordinary. Satire: Teen Angst Poems a �Danger� The Teen Angst Gun Massacre Affair has broadened, with staff at the NSW Department of Education revealing that �gangs of conspirators� have been found operating out of high school poetry competitions.
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