NEWS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE
OIL, CHEMICAL & ATOMIC WORKERS INT'L UNION, AFL-CIO
 
For Immediate Release: August 12, 1998
Media Contact: Pamela Wellner, 415-695-1956,
Kevin Rudiger, Burma Forum-LA 310-399-0703

            Los Angeles, Aug. 12. -- US oil company ARCO's
       announcement yesterday of its plan not to renew its
       remaining exploration lease in Burma is a major win for
       the Burmese democracy movement and its supporters
       worldwide. The announcement comes on the heels of the
       tenth anniversary of 8/8/88 democracy uprising in Burma.
       
            ARCO has two offshore oil leases in Burma's Andaman
       Sea and said yesterday that it would not renew the lease
       upon it's end this October. ARCO's gas project provided
       over $55 million to the Burmese junta making the company
       a boycott target for US activists supporting Burma's
       democracy movement. Oil company investment in Burma
       provides the largest legal source of foreign currency to
       the regime.
       
            "We welcome ARCO's withdrawal from operations in
       Burma and are encouraged that companies like ARCO and
       Texaco have followed the spirit of the US sanctions
       against Burma. We hope that ARCO's withdrawal will
       influence Unocal to followsuit as they are the only
       remaining US oil company funding the junta," said Dr.Sein
       Wein, Prime Minister of the National Coalition Government
       of the Union of Burma.
       
            ARCO has been the target of grassroots protests and
       a national boycott for over three years by the Free Burma
       Coalition (FBC). Most recently, activists have been
       pressuring ARCO's board of directors which resulted in a
       divided opinion in the ARCO leadership on the company's
       Burma operations. Last November, ARCO board member John
       Slaughter publicly stated his desire for the company to
       withdraw from Burma.
       
            ARCO's Burma involvement had also been protested by
       members of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union
       (OCAW). "We are proud of our rank and file members and
       ARCO workers who confronted management directly with this
       issue at the refinery and shareholders meetings, we also
       profess our admiration to all the activists who turned up
       the heat and made ARCO's Burma investment a lose-lose
       situation," said Robert Wages, OCAW president.
       
            Unocal, the only remaining US oil company in Burma
       is now clearly seen as going against US interests in
       Burma. "The US has barred new investments in Burma and
       every other US company has halted propping up the regime.
       Unocal has to get with the program and stop supporting
       repression," said Kevin Rudiger, FBC campaigner.