By Pratap Chatterjee
SAN FRANCISCO, Sep 27 1996 (IPS)

Unocal recently adopted the slogan “We get it” to show customers that it understands their desire for fast, friendly service.

But the California-based petroleum giant apparently doesn’t “get it” when it comes to understanding complaints about human rights violations stemming from its joint venture with Burma’s military government. As a result, that nation’s government in exile slapped the company with a lawsuit.

The lawsuit, filed earlier this month in a U.S. federal court in Los Angeles, charges Unocal with “vicarious liability” for abuses committed during the construction of a railroad from the town of Ye to the town of Yavoy.

The railroad is being constructed by Unocal’s Burmese joint- venture partner — the military regime that seized power after democratic elections in 1988, which calls itself the State Law and Order Restoration Committee (SLORC) — to supply materials for a natural gas pipeline.

Some 63 kilometres of this 1.2-billion-dollar pipeline, designed to deliver natural gas from the Yandana gas field in the Andaman Sea to an electric power plant in Thailand, will cross Burmese territory.

The pipeline will snake across mangrove swamps, then up the Tavoy River valley and down the Zinba River valley before ascending the final 20 kilometres through densely forested mountains along the Thai-Burma border.

The exiled National Government of the Union of Burma (NGUB) alleges that SLORC is currently using forced labour to supply materials for the pipeline.

Exiles say the army has rounded up villagers to build roads, railroads, airports, and other facilities. No official figures exist, but some observers estimate that 500,000 people provide unpaid, forced labour on any given day.

That’s not all.

“People in the region where that gas pipeline will be constructed have been relocated to areas where they have no means of earning a living, villages that have exited for decades have been burned and destroyed,” said NGUB leader Sein Win, who is currently based in Washington.

“We have time and time again asked these companies to stop undertaking the project because their interest in making money out of Burma is not only harming the local Karen, Mon (and) Tavoyan people but also helping the military dictators buy weapons that are used in killings and repressing people all over Burma,” he added.

But he does not directly blame Unocal for any of these abuses.

Instead the lawsuit is carefully worded to make it clear that the human rights record of SLORC is well known because “California law is very clear that you cannot enter into a contract with someone who is going to commit wrongful acts if you know, or should have known, about these acts,” according Cristobal Bonifaz, a Boston-based lawyer, who filed the lawsuit.

“Companies like Unocal have to understand that they do not live in the ‘Wild West’ or for that matter in the ‘Wild Third World.’ They have to be accountable somewhere and that should be in the courts of their home country,” he told IPS.

Unocal has described the lawsuit as “false, irresponsible and frivolous.”

“We believe that this lawsuit is motivated solely by political considerations,” said David Garcia, a spokesman for the Los Angeles-based company.

“The (Yadana) project has caused none of the false and outrageous allegations,” he added. “All people who work on the pipeline project are paid a better than average wage, people have been more than fairly compensated for any land use, and villages are in the same place they always have been.”

“The economic benefits are already beginning to cascade in the region, and pipeline construction has not yet begun. Schools and hospitals have been built and many agricultural and animal husbandry projects are bringing new economic vitality to the region.”

Legal experts say that Unocal faces a tough battle if the NGUB and Bonifaz can prove the human rights abuses. They also point out that Bonifaz has a track record, having recently convinced New York state judges to accept a similar lawsuit filed against Texaco over environmental damages caused by that company’s oil exploration in Ecuadoran Amazon.

Although similar lawsuits have been filed against other U.S. corporations stemming from problems with their overseas operations, no one has yet to win a judgment. One of the principal reasons is that judges generally argue that the lawsuit should be brought in the country where the damages occurred.

The lawsuit against Unocal, in which the plaintiffs seek compensatory and punitive damages in addition to the company’s withdrawal from Burma, is expected to take several months as the two sides amass their legal weapons and evidence.

But in the meantime, Unocal is expected to continue to face a barrage of criticism from environmental and human rights activists who are urging consumers to stay away from the company’s petrol pumps until it “gets” the message.

“We’re telling people to stay away from Unocal as well as other companies that do business in Burma — Texaco and Total of France,” said Pam Wellner of the Free Burma Campaign, which is based here.

Religious groups have tried to use their stock holdings in Unocal to force the adoption of resolutions against the Yadana project at company annual meetings. And several U.S. cities, including San Franscisco, Ann Arbor, Berkeley, Madison, and Santa Monica, have refused to do business with the company.

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