wfn.org | PepsiCo Cuts Burma Ties

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS" by SUSAN PEEK on Aug. 11, 1991 at 13:58 Eastern,
about FULL TEXT RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (3403 notes).

Note 3401 by UMNS on Jan. 29, 1997 at 16:19 Eastern (2732 characters).

SEARCH: PepsiCo, Burma, Interfaith Center on Corporate
Responsibility 
Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of
the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New
York, and Washington.

CONTACT:  Linda Bloom                             47(10-71B){3401}
          New York (212) 870-3803                    Jan. 29, 1997

After pressure, PepsiCo
to cease all Burma operations

     NEW YORK (UMNS) -- A decision by PepsiCo to end all
production and distribution of its products in Burma should send a
signal to other companies still engaged in business there,
according to the Rev. David Schilling.
     Schilling -- a United Methodist who is director of Global
Corporate Accountability Programs for the Interfaith Center on
Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) -- noted that religious groups,
students, human rights organizations, unions and others had joined
members of Burma's democratic movement in pressing PepsiCo to
cease its operations.
     Their methods of persuasion included an international
student-led consumer boycott and series of shareholder resolutions
from investors. The people of Burma, now also known as Myanmar,
live under a harsh and repressive military regime.
     The decision was announced to ICCR in a Jan. 24 letter to the
Rev. Father Joseph La Mar of Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers, a
community of Roman Catholic missionaries. A statement issued by
Edward V. Lahey, Jr., Pepsico's senior vice president and general
counsel, said: "Based on our assessment of the spirit of current
U.S. government foreign policy, we are completing our total
disengagement from the Burmese market."
     PepsiCo's disengagement is expected to be completed by May
31, according to the letter.
     Schilling said it had become clear that the company was going
to make such a decision when he and La Mar met with Lahey on Jan.
16.
     He added that PepsiCo was one of the largest U.S. companies
still to maintain ties to Burma. In April of 1996, PepsiCo had
divested its direct holdings and sold its 40 percent interest in
the Burma franchise, but had continued to supply syrup and allow
use of its logo and trademark.
     This year, shareholder resolutions also have been introduced
regarding the Burma operations of Atlantic Richfield, Caterpillar,
Texaco and Unocal. The Women's Division, United Methodist Board of
Global Ministries, is one of the filers of the Atlantic Richfield
resolution. It calls upon the company to develop human rights
guidelines for the countries in which it does business.
     "Increasingly, companies are having to deal with the context
in which they're operating," Schilling said.
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