The global union movement puts pressure on Maersk to pull out of Burma. But Maersk Line stays.

9 November 2007

Pressure is increasing on multinational companies doing business with the military regime in Myanmar – also known as Burma. Maersk Line is one of those companies.

As a result A.P. Moller-Maersk is one of 427 companies who received a letter from the international body of trade unions, ITUC, urging them to pull out of Burma.

“We … call upon you to join those businesses which have in recent times taken the correct and principled decision to end all business activities in or with Burma,” Guy Ryder, General Secretary of ITUC writes to Maersk.

It supports the demand of a boycott from Burma's exiled trade union congress.

Maersk alone after EU sanctions
European Union foreign ministers have now approved new sanctions against the junta regime, including an embargo on the export of wood, gems and metals. This means that A.P. Moller-Maersk is soon left as the only major Danish company in Burma.

"We don’t decide what is inside the containers, the customers do. To the extent there is cargo to and from Burma, we shall transport it", Jette Clausen senior Vice President in Maersk says.

Burma Committee: Embarrassing
The Danish Burma Committee is not satisfied with the company’s anwer:

"I find it embarrassing that Maersk is holding on to their activities. We will keep putting pressure on the company as will committees in other countries and the global trade union movement", Anette Berentzen, General Secretary in the Danish Burma Committee says.

Several Danish corporations have stopped working with Burma in recent years. Clothes importers Bestseller and IC Companys and the brewery Carlsberg are some of them.

Read the ITUC letter to Maersk below.