Why Withdraw from Burma?
Early
this year, the Clean Clothes Campaign was informed that Triumph
International, the Swiss-based lingerie company, is operating
a factory in Burma. In response, the CCC quickly went into action,
mobilizing support for a campaign to pressure Triumph to fall
in line with the long-running international movement to support
democracy in Burma by withdrawing financial investments from that
country.
This campaign strategy -- to pressure companies to withdraw from
Burma -- is widely supported and is endorsed by Burma's non-violent
democratic opposition movement, headed by the National League
for Democracy and the 1991 Nobel prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.
It is also in line with the policy of the International Confederation
of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) that international companies not
invest in Burma. Specifically in the case of Triumph, the exiled
trade union federation of Burma, the Federation of Trade Unions
- Burma (FTUB) called for support of a campaign to demand that
Triumph, which operates Myanmar Triumph International, Ltd., at
the Pyin-Ma-Bin Industrial Estate, pull out of Burma. This demand
is also supported by the International Textile, Garment and Leather
Workers' Federation (ITGLWF).
Action!
After
a round of protest letters to the company and the retailers that
sell Triumph products, the CCC had a Triumph "action day"
on January 19th, to increase the pressure on the company to withdraw
from Burma. CCC campaigners took to the streets in Switzerland
and the Netherlands to protest Triumph's support of Burma's military
regime, demanding that Triumph pull out of Burma and that retailers
put all Triumph orders on hold until the company withdraws from
Burma.
In Triumph's home country of Switzerland, a street action in
Lausanne and a newspaper advertisement in a German-language newspaper
generated a storm of attention around this issue. Several TV stations
covered the story, as did radio and print media. The Swiss CCC
learned that Triumph hired a public relations specialist to handle
this issue. Meanwhile, e-mail messages to be forwarded to Triumph
from consumers began pouring in. Following the action day, the
Swiss campaign launched a postcard action. By late April an estimated
2,500 Swiss consumers had been sent cards to Triumph.
In Amsterdam the Dutch CCC and the Burma Centrum Nederland organized
a lively parade down the city's main shopping street, the Kalverstraat,
ending up at Vroom & Dreesman, a major retailer in the Netherlands
which sells Triumph products. Marching behind a banner that called
on Triumph to "support breasts, not dictators" the group
of activists, including a samba band and people on stilts, distributed
leaflets to the lunch-hour shopping crowds and then burned bras
in protest of Triumph's support of the Burmese military regime.
The parade made its way over to Hunkemöller, a lingerie chain
which also sells Triumph bras, to burn a few more bras. Press
attention of the event included coverage in several national and
regional newspapers, and Metro, the newspaper distributed in train
stations all over the country.
Triumph Responds
According to Triumph, the CCC campaign is purely a "political"
one aimed at a private company. They fail to see any responsibility
connected with their business dealings in Burma. The company demonstrates
little interest or understanding of the human rights situation
in Burma, as the following comment illustrates. When confronted
on Swiss TV (TSR) with a question about forced labor, Triumph's
Director Wolfgang Spiesshofer, responded with his own question:
"The people in Burma do not pay taxes, this is not possible
in that country. So if the government has to construct a road
or an airport or something else, how could they do it differently?"
The Swiss Clean Clothes Campaign met for the first time with
Triumph management on March 22nd, at the invitation of the Swiss
State Secretary for Economic Affairs. With no progress reported,
the campaign is ongoing, and now spreading to other CCC countries.
The Belgian CCC, for example, kicked off a postcard campaign in
March with a press conference.
In the Netherlands, the CCC met with Vendex KBB, the holding
company which owns several retail chains that sell Triumph products.
Though the company's own code of conduct prohibits them from doing
business in Burma, they are still refusing to give in to CCC demands
to stop placing orders with Triumph. More actions in the Netherlands,
therefore are in the works. Meanwhile, a postcard campaign has
been launched. It won't be long before the barbed wire bra, the
powerful image developed by the Swiss Triumph campaign, comes
to be known throughout Europe as the logo of Triumph's disregard
for human rights.
Support for the Campaign
Writing to the Swiss CCC (via the Bern Declaration) in January,
U Maung Maung General Secretary of the exiled FTUB said, "We
strongly support your work to force Triumph to end its investment
in our country. Triumph is doing business directly with the Union
of Myanmar Economic Holdings (UMEH), a company that is controlled
by the military that represses our people, engages in atrocious
human rights abuses (including forced labor that has recently
been condemned by the ILO). The SLORC/SPDC military regime in
Burma has prevented independent unions from forming, and two of
our executive board members (Myo Aung Thant and Khin Kyaw) are
serving long prison sentences for their work with us."
"Unfortunately," he continued, "it is a fact that
direct investment in Burma first benefits the military regime
in our country. By strengthening the regime financially, this
investment makes it much more difficult for the democratic forces
and the trade union movement to persuade the SPDC generals to
step aside. For this reason, we need strong international pressure
on foreign companies in Burma to continue. This is why we very
much appreciate the Bern Declaration's efforts to campaign to
get Triumph to leave Burma."
Neil Kearney, General Secretary of the ITGLWF, said that Triumph's
refusal to withdraw from Burma was "double-speak." In
a letter to the head of Triumph International Overseas, Gunther
Spiesshofer, the ITGLWF rebutted the company's arguments, and
warned that international pressure would continue to mount until
Triumph pulls out of Burma.
"Triumph claims that it is not providing resources to members
of the government, and is therefore not affected by the sanctions
imposed by the Swiss government," says Kearney. "But
in reality, the army's tentacles reach into all areas of foreign
investment, and it is therefore virtually impossible for any foreign
company to produce goods in Burma without providing direct or
indirect support to the regime."
"In the case of Triumph, the factory is located on an Industrial
Estate rented from the Mingaladon military brigade, just north
of Rangoon's airport. The leasing arrangements are no doubt handled
through the Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings, a company which
controls all investment in the industry, and whose major shareholder
is the department of the Ministry of Defense responsible for purchasing
arms for the junta. Then there is the 5% tax levied on exports.
But the full extent of the army's control over the industry is
not known. For instance, in 1997, a BBC report filmed with a hidden
camera showed workers being forced to pay half their daily wages
to the army in order to keep their jobs."
In November, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) adopted
a resolution calling on other organisations, as well as on national
governments and private companies, to review their relations with
Burma, in order to ensure their relations do not serve to perpetuate
or extend the widespread system of forced labor.
"This resolution affects Triumph," says Kearney. "The
garment industry provides support to the military, mainly to its
most senior members. And it is precisely these senior members
who responsible for the massive forced labour problem affecting
the civilian population. In addition, the garment industry relies
on the country's infrastructure, which is being built with forced
labor."
"And of course, as a member of EURATEX, Triumph subscribes
to the code of conduct negotiated between EURATEX and the ETUC/TCL
which prohibts the use of forced labor."
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Contact Triumph today:
Triumph International
Geschäftsleitung
Promenadestrasse 24
5330 Zurzach
Switzerland
Fax: +41-56-269-9203
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