AFL-CIO and ICEM Protest Unocal's Burma Joint Venture at Shareholders Meeting

BREA, Calif., May 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Worker shareholders at Unocal Corporation's (NYSE: UCL) annual meeting today challenged the company's support for Burma's military dictatorship.

Representatives of the AFL-CIO and the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) supported two shareholder resolutions addressing Unocal's involvement in human rights abuses in Burma.

One of the largest pension funds in the world, with assets totaling more than $151 billion, the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS), announced it would vote for the two resolutions. Proponents of the resolutions contend that the company's involvement in Burma creates substantial risk. Unocal is the only U.S.-based company with significant direct investments in the Burmese oil and gas industry, one of the country's most strategic sectors.

"Working people who invest in Unocal want to make sure that
the company isn't propping up the military regime in Burma,
which condones forced labor and other human rights abuses,"
said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney.



"It's about time that the company starts focusing on creating long-term sustainable value, which includes becoming a good corporate citizen and minimizing its risk exposure to serious human rights violations."

The first resolution, sponsored by the LongView Collective Investment Fund of the Amalgamated Bank of New York, urges the Unocal board of directors to adopt, implement and enforce a code of conduct based on the United Nations' International Labor Organization (ILO) conventions on workplace human rights.

The second resolution, sponsored by Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers, the Interfaith Center of Corporate Responsibility, As You Sow Foundation, and Walden Asset Management, 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 ethical and social performance.

"Shareholders and regulatory authorities increasingly pay attention to the significant material risk to investors posed by repressive regimes such as Burma," said Kenneth Zinn, ICEM North American Regional Coordinator. "Unocal needs to change its behavior to remain attractive in the capital markets."

The United Nations, the U.S. government and the European Union heavily criticized Burma's military dictatorship for massive human rights violations including forced labor. In November 2000, the ILO approved a resolution urging its member government, employers and unions to "review their relations with Burma" and "ensure that such relations do not perpetuate the system of forced or compulsory labour in that country."

A recent proclamation issued by the ICEM's energy union affiliates from the Asia/Pacific region, meeting in Bangkok, Thailand, called on oil and gas companies to "cease investment in Burma while the use of forced labor continues." The unions represented were from Australia, Bangladesh, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. The ICEM is a global trade union federation uniting 20 million workers in over 400 affiliated unions in 110 countries.

Unocal may face significant liabilities, because of its investments in Burma.
Unocal is a participant is a $1.2 billion joint venture with the Burmese government
in the Yadana gas pipeline, a project on which forced labor was used.



A lawsuit against Unocal by Burmese plaintiffs in U.S. district court in California was dismissed last August but is currently under appeal.

Judge Ronald Lew stated in his opinion, "The evidence does suggest that Unocal knew that forced labor was being utilized and the Joint Venturers (including Unocal) benefited from the practice." In addition, a federal court has now ruled that a similar case can proceed in state court addressing Unocal's involvement in human rights violations. Starting at the beginning of this year, Unocal appointed a new CEO, Charles R. Williamson, and a new chairman of the board, John W. Creighton raising expectations that the company would reassess its Burmese operations.

The situation in Burma violates the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principal and Rights at Work, including the right to no forced labor. Unions around the world have recently launched a campaign to make sure workers know these rights, distributing an ILO-produced poster in workplaces and communities worldwide.