FW: Urgent sign-on letter to ban Burmese Imports

[sawicky@xxxxxxxxxx (Max Sawicky)]

This is a sign-on letter to ban Burmese Imports and also the same version of
President Sweeney's (AFL-CIO) letter to President Clinton that was forwarded
this Tuesday.

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With President Clinton's term coming to a close, groups have stepped up
pressure in order to secure a ban on all imports from Burma. This comes
immediately after the International Labor Organization encouraged member
states to review all relationships with Burma, so that associations
do not support the country's systematic use of forced labor

The Burmese junta is profiting from the export of apparel, and the
industry itself is helping to perpetuate an economy based on forced labor.
In fact, on any given day it is estimated that 800,000 people are forced
into laboring for the junta.  If instituted, a ban on apparel imports
would cut off about one-quarter of the regime's foreign exchange
earnings.

Below are two examples of what organizations are doing to support human
rights and democracy in Burma. The first is an urgent sign-on letter to ban
Burmese imports, distributed by the Free Burma Coalition
(www.freeburmacoalition.org) and following that is a letter sent to
President
Clinton from John Sweeney, President of the AFL-CIO.

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URGENT SIGN-ON LETTER TO BAN BURMESE IMPORTS

* Please sign on by this Friday, December 22 *

--Send sign-ons to
dbeeton@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

December 22, 2000

The Honorable William J. Clinton
President
Office of the White House
Washington, DC 20500


Dear Mr. President,

As you near the end of your term, we would like to express our heartfelt
gratitude to you for the strong, positive steps that your administration has
taken in support of the struggle for freedom and democracy in Burma.

We especially thank you for banning new investment in Burma in 1997, a
move that clearly led the way for other countries to take strong
measures. You may be aware, however, that the spirit of these
sanctions has been undermined by the proliferation of imports from Burma
entering the U.S., especially of apparel. These apparel imports constitute
over 80% of the total imports from Burma and have increased by 272% since
1995.

The International Labor Organization has requested that its member
states review their relationships with the Burmese military regime to ensure
that those relationships do not contribute to the use of forced labor. The
National League for Democracy, led by Nobel Peace Prize Winner Aung
San Suu Kyi, has called for foreign companies to stay out of Burma until
democracy and rule of law is restored. Following these requests, we urge you
to take another action to support freedom and democracy for Burma. We urge
you to ban all imports from Burma.

The Burmese junta is profiting from the export of apparel, and the
industry itself is helping to perpetuate an economy based on forced labor.
U.S. Department of Labor reports document how forced labor in Burma has been
used to promote exports. The junta's 5% tax on these exports, as well as
the fact that the junta runs the apparel factories themselves, mean that
the Burmese apparel industry is enabling an economy dependent on forced
labor.  On any given day it is estimated that 800,000 people are forced into
laboring for the junta, and according to the junta's own data, this
modern-day form of slavery constitutes a percentage of the total labor in
Burma
equivalent to slave labor in the U.S. during the height of slavery.

Your action to implement the ILO decision will greatly benefit the
people of Burma in their struggle for a society based on democratic
principles and human rights.  It would also show that the United States is
serious about taking action to protect workers' rights in the global
economy. It would be a fitting final step by your administration, which
has made its commitment to the Burmese democracy movement a major foreign
policy achievement.

We thank you for your action on this issue.

Sincerely,

Free Burma Coalition

------------------------------

December 14, 2000


President William J. Clinton
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

I was looking forward to having some time to talk with you during the
trip to Ireland, which I sadly was unable to join. One of the two things I
had wanted to discuss was the very serious situation in Burma. I am glad
that your staff and mine have been working together to compile information
and
review options. I hope that next week's U.S./European Union Summit here
in Washington will allow an opportunity for us to press our European
counterparts to join with us in a forceful action.  I think it would be
useful for you to raise the issue with President Chirac and other European
officials, including Commissioner Lamy.

As you know, the ILO has taken an unprecedented step by invoking article
33 of its Constitution, and instructing members "to review their relations
with Myanmar and take appropriate measures to ensure that such relations do
not perpetuate or extend the system of forced or compulsory labour
in that country."

Your Administration's work to strengthen and revitalize the International
Labor Organization (ILO) has been enormously important and successful, and
it is essential that the United States now lead the international community
in giving weight and meaning to the ILO's historic action. Failure to act
now would risk undermining the legitimacy and credibility of the ILO and the
broader effort to insist that workers' human rights must be universally
respected.

The AFL-CIO is requesting the United States government to ban immediately
all imports from Burma. The totalitarian involvement of the Burmese military
government in all economic activity in the country continues to provide
crucial financial support to the military leaders, who seized power
from the democratically elected government in 1990. The military leaders
are guilty of pervasive and deadly forced labor practices in road and other
construction projects, commercial ventures, as well as in military
porterage. Many of the factories exporting to the United States are jointly
owned by members of the military junta, so every time an American consumer
purchases an item made in Burma, he or she unwittingly funds one of the most
repressive
and brutal dictatorships in the world.

Banning imports from Burma is an appropriate and timely response to the
ILO' s call to action. The United States is one of Burma's largest consumer
markets, and the fastest growing. The legitimately elected
government-in-exile, the National Coalition Government of the Union of
Burma, has
joined the call for trade sanctions against Burma, as have the exiled
trade union representatives in the Federation of Trade Unions-Burma.

Every day that goes by further endangers the prospects for rebuilding
democracy in Burma. Many observers believe that the military government is
determined to wipe out what is left of Aung San Suu Kyi's party, the
National League for Democracy, before the end of the year. The Medal
ofFreedom awarded so meritoriously to Aung San Suu Kyi last week will
provide small comfort if her party and her movement are effectively
eradicated.

The AFL-CIO is working closely with our trade union colleagues in Europe
and around the world to urge their governments to impose an import and
investment ban on Burma immediately. We will raise this issue again later
this month at the U.S./E.U. Summit here in Washington, when the AFL-CIO and
the European Trade Union Confederation will present a joint statement to
you and President Chirac.

I look forward to continuing to work with your Administration on addressing
this critical situation in a forceful and effective way. I hope I can count
on your personal leadership to bring about swift and decisive action to ban
imports from Burma. If the current set of horrific circumstances does not
warrant such action, nothing ever will.

Sincerely,


John J. Sweeney
President