Brea Unocal Meeting Is Protested

A rowdy crowd wearing masks and black clothes to represent death banged wooden drums early Monday outside a Brea-based oil conglomerate, shouting “Unocal out of Burma!” while security officers stood guard and passing drivers honked.

The 75 Burmese human rights and labor activists were demanding that the company stop operating a pipeline in Burma, now known as Myanmar.

But at a Unocal shareholder meeting inside, investors batted down a resolution to link the compensation and bonus packages of Unocal’s executives to the company’s ethical and social performance.

At issue is Unocal’s investment of $1.2 billion in a 150-mile pipeline completed in 1998 that carries gas from offshore wells to customers in Thailand.

Protesters accused the corporation of working with Myanmar troops, who allegedly relocated residents to build the project. Activists say the military rounded up villagers and forced them to work for three weeks at a time, digging ditches, constructing helicopter pads and building roads. Some were beaten, tortured or murdered, activists said.

“We’re here to let Unocal and its shareholders know that their blood profit has affected a lot of people and their lives,” said Pye Nyein, 38, of Van Nuys. “Unocal continues to profit off murder and rape and slavery, and we’re not going to stand for it.”

Unocal spokesman Barry Lane said the corporation is an investor with only 28% interest in the project, and had no control over its construction or operation.

He denied that villagers were chased out of their homes, and said no slave labor was used. Instead, he said, the project has led to better living conditions, bringing doctors, schools, roads, water and sanitation systems to the 40,000 people living in the area. The corporation’s 30-year contract included 2,500 construction jobs, and now 75 people are in training to operate and monitor the pipeline.

Despite shareholders’ rejection of the initiative that the demonstrators backed, activists were pleased that 16% supported their position, up from 8% the previous year.

“We are raising awareness,” Nyein said. “and the numbers show that there are people who are realizing there are human rights violations.”