House panel approves bill to pave way for slavery reparations


House judiciary committee member Sheila Jackson Lee urged Republicans on Wednesday to vote in favor of her bill to create a commission to study the lasting effects of slavery.  File Photo by Shawn Thew/UPI | License Photo

April 15 (UPI) -- A House committee approved legislation late Wednesday to pave the way to pay reparations to ancestors of enslaved Black Americans, though the bill has an uphill battle to become law.

The House judiciary committee voted along party lines 25 to 17 in favor of bill H.R. 40 that would establish a 13-member commission to study the history and effects of slavery in the United States and its colonies from 1619 to 1865, as well as the ensuing discrimination, aiming to recommend remedies, including reparations.

The bill was first introduced nearly three decades ago by the late Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., and was named after the 40-acre plots of land Gen. William T. Sherman promised in 1865 to redistribute to formerly enslaved people.

Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., described the bill before the vote Wednesday as "historic legislation" that does not mandate financial payments nor recommend how to properly atone for the legacy of slavery -- it intends to begin a conversation about the mistreatment of Black people in the United States.

RELATED Judge rules Harvard owns slave images, not descendants

"This moment of national reckoning comes at a time when our nation must find constructive ways to confront a rising tide of racial and ethnic division," he said. "Reparations in the context of H.R. 40 are ultimately about respect and reconciliation -- and the hope that one day all Americans can walk together toward a more just future."

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, who reintroduced the bill, told her colleagues across the aisle to not ignore the pain and history of Black people in the United States and the reasonableness of the commission.

"The goal of this historical commission and its investigation is to bring American society to the new reckoning of how our past affects the current conditions of African Americans and make America a better place to help and truly study the disadvantage," she said. "The reparations moment does not focus only on payments, but it focuses on remedies that can be created in many forms necessary to equitably address the many kinds of injuries sustained from the chattel slavery and its continuing vestiges."

RELATED Chicago suburb approves housing reparations for Black residents

To focus on financial reparation is an "empty gesture," she argued, stating they only want others to see the pain, violence and brutality Black Americans have experienced to create a pathway to reconciliation.

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said the bill would put the country on the wrong track.

"We have utterly destroyed Black families. We have utterly ripped fathers and people that children should be able to look up to in their families from the homes of Black families in the name of government paternalism," he said. "And that, I'm afraid, is where this kind of legislation takes us -- it takes us away from the important dream of judging people by the content of their character and not by the color of their skin."

RELATED New California law forms panel to examine reparations for slavery

The bill has not been advanced to a floor vote, but it has received support from President Joe Biden, whose press secretary, Jen Psaki, told reporters in February that he would be in favor of such a commission.

"He certainly would support a study of reparations," she said, stopping short of saying he'd sign it if it landed on his desk, adding they would wait to "see what happens through the legislative process."

The vote on the bill came less than a month after Evanston, Ill., a Chicago suburb, approved legislation to make available hundreds of thousands of dollars to right decades of wrongs committed by the city's discriminatory housing practices against its Black residents as part of a reparations program.
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Capitol Police IG says dept. needs reform, culture change after Jan. 6 attack

APRIL 15, 2021 

Rioters breach the security perimeter the U.S. Capitol to protest against the Electoral College vote count, in Washington, D.C., on January 6. File Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI | License Photo






April 15 (UPI) -- Officers were not prepared to deal with the mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, despite warnings of potential violence, according to the Capitol Police inspector general in congressional testimony he's set to give Thursday.

Inspector General Michael Bolton will detail the January attack when he testifies before the House Administration Committee, according to his opening statement. The hearing is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. EDT.

The Capitol attack directly killed five people and led to the second impeachment of President Donald Trump. Radical Trump supporters perpetrated the violence.

Bolton has produced two reports on the Capitol Police response, and a third will be issued later this month. One says top officers in the department overlooked intelligence information that indicated congressional lawmakers themselves could be targets.

In his opening statement, Bolton describes the attack as a "takeover" and says Capitol Police lacked necessary relevant policies for its civil disturbance and intelligence divisions.

"As our work continues, my office sees continuing areas in our findings that [Capitol Police] needs [to] address," he says in his opening remarks. "Those areas are intelligence, training, operational planning, and culture change."

"We see that the department needs to move away from the thought process as a traditional police department and move to the posture as a protective agency," he adds. "A police department is a reactive force. A crime is committed; police respond and make an arrest. Whereas, a protective agency is postured to being proactive to prevent events such as January 6."

RELATED Capitol riot: FBI arrests former Salt Lake City officer

Bolton says the department also had faulty equipment, including munitions that were kept beyond their expiration date. He also notes there was a lack of agreement about the reality of the Jan. 6 threat.

"Certain officials believed [Capitol Police] intelligence products indicated there may be threats, but did not identify anything specific, while other officials believed it would be inaccurate to state that there were no known specific threats," Bolton says in his statement.

In his second report on the attack, Bolton said Capitol Police received a warning from the Department of Homeland Security more than two weeks before the attack.

RELATED Slain Capitol Police officer to lie in honor in Capitol Rotunda

As the department's inspector general, Bolton has promised to file a new report each month detailing the latest findings of investigations into the attack. His next report is expected April 30.

RUSTEN SHESKEY, THE COP WHO PARALYZED JACOB BLAKE, IS BACK ON THE FORCE

by Christian SpencerApril 14, 2021

Credit: Twitter/ @Journaltimes

On Tuesday, the Kenosha Police Department in Wisconsin welcomed back officer Rusten Sheskey, the man responsible for paralyzing Jacob Blake.

According to a statement from Kenosha Police Chief Daniel Miskinis, Sheskey, who shot Blake seven times while his back was turned, has returned from administrative leave in late March after an independent review “found [he was] acting within policy and will not be subjected to discipline,” NBC News reported.

Blake cannot move from his waist down after the shooting on Aug. 23, 2020. Sheskey and two other Kenosha officers were trying to apprehend Blake, who was wanted for his pocket knife that allegedly fell out of his pants during a street fight.

“I know that some will not be pleased with this outcome; however, given the facts, the only lawful and appropriate decision was made,” the statement continues.

When Blake went to his SUV to dispose of the knife, Sheskey’s reaction almost fatally killed the then-29-year-old father of two. Blake’s sons were in the car when he was shot.

“Although this incident has been reviewed at multiple levels, I understand that some will not be pleased with the outcome; however, given the facts, it was the only lawful and appropriate decision to be made,” Miskinis said.

Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley did not charge Sheskey, telling reporters in January at the time that Sheskey acted in self-defense.

“If you don’t believe you can prove a case beyond a reasonable doubt, you have an ethical obligation not to issue charges,” Graveley said at the time.

As Black Enterprise previously reported, Blake is suing the police officer who shot him in his back, mainly for endangering his and his children’s lives.

He is being represented by attorney Benjamin Crump.

“Sheskey should be fired. He should face criminal charges. Instead, he’ll return to active duty without punishment. Our justice system has failed the Blake family,” Crump tweeted, responding to Sheskey’s return.

BEN & JERRY’S IS SICK AND TIRED OF WHITE SUPREMACY, WANT TO DEFUND THE POLICE

by Christian SpencerApril 15, 2021

Credit: Ben and Jerry's Twitter


Ben & Jerry’s is standing up for Black lives, calling for the criminal justice system to be defunded and reformed.

Ice cream makers Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield believe white supremacy was the reason why 20-year-old Daunte Wright was shot and killed by a police officer in a Minneapolis suburb over the weekend, Fox News reported.

“The murder of Daunte Wright is rooted in white supremacy and results from the intentional criminalization of Black and Brown communities,” said Ben and Jerry’s official Twitter. “This system can’t be reformed.”

The decision to call out white supremacy was met with praise from activists, but there was pushback from those who disagree with its hardline position on police reform.

This is not the first time Ben and Jerry’s made its left-leaning politics public. The company is open about its stance on climate change, voting rights, and has collaborated with civil rights athlete Colin Kaepernick, known for “taking a knee” protests against racial injustice in America, to make a signature ice cream flavor, The Sun reported.

The officer who killed Wright is former police officer Kim Potter. On Wednesday, she was arrested and faces 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine on a second-degree manslaughter charge.

As BLACK ENTERPRISE previously reported, the Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, police officer handed in her resignation in a short letter to Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliot Tuesday. After Potter handed in her resignation, Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon did the same.

“I have loved every minute of being a police officer and serving this community to the best of my ability, but I believe it is in the best interest of the community, the department, and my fellow officers if I resign immediately,” Potter wrote.

This is the third incident of a Black man being killed by an officer’s hand in the state in the last five years. Philando Castile, who was also fatally shot during a traffic stop in 2016, and George Floyd, who was killed last year. The police officer who killed Floyd is currently on trial, less than 10 miles from where Wright was shot

Protesters take to Pittsburgh streets hours after Minnesota officer who shot Daunte Wright resigns

NATASHA LINDSTROM | Wednesday, April 14, 2021 

NATE SMALLWOOD | TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Gerlynn Williams, holds her grandson, Hudson Hyman, 4, of East Liberty, as they look on during a protest Tuesday night in Pittsburgh in solidarity with the protests in Minnesota after the killing of Daunte Wright at the hands of police.

A loosely organized group of protesters took to the streets of Pittsburgh in the name of police accountability on Tuesday night, hours after the white officer who fatally shot Daunte Wright during a traffic stop in a Minneapolis suburb submitted her resignation.

The demonstration, which remained peaceful, drew about 100 to 150 people to a two-and-a-half hour march with brief stops across the city’s East Liberty, Larimer and Shadyside neighborhoods.

It aimed to express solidarity with the protests in Minnesota following Wright’s death — though the event’s main speaker leading the march urged everyone to avoid turning to the likes of looting and vandalism.

“I’m seeing all of these other cities doing what they’re doing, breaking stuff …” the speaker, who did not identify themselves, said into a megaphone. “But it really isn’t worth it. And it solves nothing.”

There were no reports of incidents related to the event from police, which dispatched officers to monitor protesters as they moved and blocked off stretches of several streets surrounding them.

“It was a peaceful event with no arrests,” Pittsburgh Public Safety spokesman Maurice Matthews said by email shortly before 10:30 p.m.

The event against racism and injustice began at 7 p.m. with a circle formed outside the Target store at Penn and Centre avenues.

“Daunte Wright” was the newest of a slew of names of people whose deaths involved police violence posted to a chain link fence surrounding an empty lot across the street, with a backdrop of a “Say Their Names” mural painted across a wall. The site has been a meeting ground for protesters since George Floyd’s death last summer.

Holding up signs such as, “Abolish White Supremacy Systems” and “Asians for Black Lives,” protesters marched along Penn Avenue past Bakery Square and strips of corporate headquarters such as Google and shops such as West Elm and Trader Joe’s before entering Mellon Park.

Police on motorcycles kept a moving perimeter as the group marched.

Inside the park, while most of the group sat in the grass and shared stories about identifying white privilege and avoiding anarchistic means, a clash involving a small segment of protesters results in a dozen or so branching off on their own as they chanted, “Out of the park, into the streets!”

The two groups took off in a divergent directions at Fifth Avenue.

Many people in attendance said they didn’t want to be interviewed or have their photos taken.

After leading a chant against the Peduto administration’s leadership, the main group continued on with a stop outside Mayor Bill Peduto’s house, during which a speaker with a megaphone told people that a “diversity of tactics” should be used to achieve meaningful change, and that protesting and marching won’t be enough: “Being a tiny nuisance isn’t going to make any change,” the speaker said. “It’s listening to the black voices, not talking over them, and just understanding them.”

Earlier in the day, Peduto retweeted a statement about the need for major changes in the justice system to address inequities, and Peduto posted a tweet about building relationships between police and people in the community.

“Community Policing works best when community leaders engage with Officers and our Bureau of Police engages directly with neighborhood groups and leaders,” Peduto wrote.

After walking back toward the Target in East Liberty, protesters dispersed peacefully.

Natasha Lindstrom is a Tribune-Review staff writer. 

You can contact Natasha via Twitter .

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AMAZON RELEASES EXTENSIVE ACTION PLAN AFTER RACIAL DISCRIMINATION CLAIMS

by Andrea Blackstone

April 15, 2021

(Image: Amazon.com)

Amazon is a leading online retailer known for getting items to buyers in a heartbeat with the click of a mouse. However, for many, that convenience can’t forgive accusations of discriminatory practices. The retial giant’s response: focus more on inclusion.

Recode by Vox illuminates the backdrop of a mounting issue, sharing the story of a Black woman named Chanin Kelly-Rae, who started working at Amazon in 2019 as a global manager of diversity in its cloud computing division. Kelly-Rae was convinced that Amazon’s corporate workplace had deep, systemic issues. According to Recode by Vox, the company disadvantages Black employees and workers from other underrepresented backgrounds. Kelly-Rae said Amazon leadership was unwilling to listen to internal experts regarding how to identify and fix the described problems.

“Amazon was not doing things in a way that represents best practices that would advance diversity and inclusion in any way that is meaningful and thoughtful,” she told Recode by Vox. “Let me add: Amazon appeared to be taking steps backward instead of forward.”

In addition to Kelly-Rae, more than a dozen former and current Amazon corporate employees chimed in, including more Black respondents. Both current and former employees, other than Kelly-Rae, spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing retribution or being bound by employment terms. They felt the company did not create a corporate-wide environment where all Black employees felt welcomed and respected

.

Credit- Facebook

And in a recent Forbes.com article, “according to Amazon data, Black employees accounted for 3.8% of its senior positions in the U.S. (up from 1.5% in 2018), compared with a figure of 70.7% for whites (down from 74.3% in 2018).”

Forbes.com also reported that a Black woman from Washington, D.C., named Charlotte Newman filed a federal lawsuit against Amazon in early March. Allegations included intentional underpayment to her and other Black employees compared to their White counterparts. Newman also accused the company of placing newly hired Black employees in positions which were beneath their level of expertise and experience.

Beth Galetti, Amazon’s senior vice president of people eXperience and technology, posted a lengthy message regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion on Amazon’s website on April 14. Galetti mentioned that inequitable treatment of Black people is unacceptable, that rights of other groups must be protected, and how Amazon is committed to building an inclusive company.

“Building on last year’s work, we are setting our 2021 company-wide goals for diversity, equity, and inclusion. We are continuing goals to increase representation of Black employees in the U.S., as this is where we have the furthest to go. However, nearly all of the new goals affect all communities specifically by addressing situations in which employees from a diverse set of backgrounds have different experiences than peers in areas like development, retention, and talent assessment,” Galetti wrote.

Action plans included ensuring that all Amazon employees take company-wide required inclusion training; building scalable mechanisms that address new instances of non-inclusive terms in its code and document repositories or development tools; doubling the number of U.S. Black employees at L8-L10 (directors and vice presidents) year-over-year from 2020 numbers; increasing hiring of U.S. Black employees at L4-L7 by at least 30% year-over-year from 2020 hiring; and increasing the number of women at L8-L10 (senior principals, directors, vice presidents, and “distinguished engineers”) in tech and science roles by 30% year-over-year.

UNION DRIVE IMPACT

Jeff Bezos Just Signaled A Huge Shift In Amazon’s Mission

Jon Picoult
Contributor


Jeff Bezos, Founder & CEO of Amazon GETTY IMAGES

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has released his 2020 Shareholder Letter, and about a quarter of the way into the 4,000-word missive, he signaled an important shift in Amazon’s strategic focus:

“We have always wanted to be Earth’s Most Customer-Centric Company. We won’t change that. It’s what got us here. But I am committing us to an addition. We are going to be Earth’s Best Employer and Earth’s Safest Place to Work.”

(Excerpt from Jeff Bezos’ 2020 Letter to Amazon Shareholders)

Amazon is a perennial leader in consumer experience rankings – a position that’s been earned, in part, through a relentless focus on making everything effortless for customers (dating way back to the company’s patented 1-Click purchase button). As The Atlantic writer Franklin Foer put it in a 2019 feature about Bezos, “Amazon is the embodiment of competence, the rare institution that routinely works.”

But Amazon’s brand image is a complicated one, as the company serves many different constituencies – not just individual consumers, but also institutions (via its Amazon Web Services division), third-party sellers (who list their products for sale on Amazon) and, of course, the company’s own employees. And for at least some members of those other constituencies, there are blemishes on the Amazon brand.

Some third-party sellers have claimed that Amazon engages in anti-competitive behavior, while some employees have criticized the company for its work environment. (Earlier this month, Amazon workers in Alabama rejected an attempt to unionize – the latest organizing effort to fail at the company.)

In his letter, Bezos addresses both of those constituencies, highlighting what he sees as the value they derive from Amazon. It is perhaps a tacit acknowledgment that these groups’ criticism does, at the very least, create a perception problem for the company.

It was to the employee audience, however, that Bezos dedicated an entire section of his letter – largely a defense of Amazon’s employment practices, but also, as evidenced by the quote above, a clarion call for the company to better distinguish itself in the workplace (among employees), just as it has done in the marketplace (among consumers).

Bezos’ laser focus on becoming the planet’s most customer-centric-company is the stuff of legend. To add a parallel, employee-centric component into the mix is a significant development. Bezos even tries to preempt shareholder criticism in the letter, asserting that the company can realistically outperform on both the customer experience and employee experience dimensions.

Critics will surely frame Bezos’ comments as nothing more than good annual report copy – a public relations stunt, rather than an operations strategy. That might be.

However, it’s also possible that Bezos honestly recognizes this as a key challenge for the company. After all, the customer and employee experiences are two sides of the same coin. Happy, loyal employees help create happy, loyal customers, who in turn help create even more happy, loyal employees. The value of that virtuous cycle, in driving sustainable competitive advantage, cannot be overstated.

It’s hard to imagine a company being able to deliver a consistently exceptional customer experience without having employees who are engaged, inspired and equipped to make that happen.

Despised employers might be able to perform well for a period of time, perhaps due to unusual market and/or competitive conditions, but it’s not a sustainable formula. If your employees are miserable, it’s going to catch up with you, in the form of lower productivity, higher absenteeism, and increased turnover – all of which degrades the quality of the customer experience, and eventually makes customers miserable, too.

Bezos even acknowledges this in his own words, writing in the Shareholder letter: “Your goal should be to create value for everyone you interact with. Any business that doesn’t create value for those it touches, even if it appears successful on the surface, isn’t long for this world. It’s on the way out.”

Bezos is a shrewd businessman, and it will be interesting to see if and how Amazon executes on his new employee-centric mission. At the very least, however, it’s clear that one of the world’s most successful CEOs is thinking as much about employee experience as he is about customer experience — and that’s a lead everyone should follow.


Jon Picoult
Jon Picoult’s new book, From Impressed To Obsessed, will be published in October 2021.
I’m Founder & Principal of Watermark Consulting, a customer experience advisory firm, as well as a keynote speaker on CX and leadership topics. I help companies impress…

New Zealand awards Amazon extra $116 mln subsidy for 'Lord of the Rings' TV series

ALL CAPITALI$M IS STATE CAPITALISM

Reuters


The logo of streaming service Amazon Prime Video is seen in this illustration picture taken March 5, 2021. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui/Illustration/File Photo

New Zealand said on Friday it has agreed to give Amazon (AMZN.O) extra rebates on its expenses for the filming of "The Lord of the Rings" TV series in the country, hoping to reap multi-year economic and tourism benefits.

Amazon will get an extra 5% from New Zealand's Screen Production Grant in addition to the 20% grant the production already qualifies for, the government said in a statement.

Amazon is estimated to be spending about NZ$650 million ($465 million) filming the first season of the show, for broadcast on its Amazon Prime streaming platform, meaning it would be eligible for a rebate of about NZ$162 million ($116 million), the government said.

"The agreement with Amazon ... generates local jobs and creates work for local businesses," Economic and Regional Development Minister Stuart Nash said in a statement. "It will enable a new wave of international tourism branding and promotion for this country."

The first season entered production in Auckland last year with more than 1,200 people employed. Approximately 700 workers are indirectly employed by providing services to the production, the government said.

U.S.-based Amazon media officials weren't immediately available for comment outside regular U.S. business hours.

($1 = 1.3976 New Zealand dollars)

Junta battalion reportedly defeated by KIA

The Myanmar military’s LIB 320 is gone, the KIA says, as the fight for Alaw Bum continues

Myanmar Now
Published on Apr 15, 2021

KIA troops attend training at the group’s headquarters in Laiza,

 Kachin state, in November 2017 (EPA-EFE)

An entire Myanmar military battalion was defeated by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in Kachin State’s Momauk Township, local media has reported on Wednesday.

The regime’s Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 320 had been engaged in intensifying battles with Kachin forces for four days in an attempt to reclaim the strategic hilltop base of Alaw Bum in Momauk.

“It’s been reported that there were a lot of deaths from the [Myanmar] military’s side,” KIA spokesperson Col Naw Bu told the Kachin Waves news group. “I think the entire battalion is gone. There are only two or three soldiers left,” he said, referring to LIB 320.

LIBs in theory should have at least 700 soldiers, but in practice often have much less– often only a few hundred troops. At the time of reporting, it was not known how many soldiers belonged to LIB 320.

The military has responded by sending troops from four more units to continue the assault on Alaw Bum, a local observer told Myanmar Now, including those from Light Infantry Divisions 77 and 88.

Hundreds of ground troops and at least two fighter jets have been deployed in the regime’s attack on the base, which sits roughly 30km south of the KIA headquarters of Laiza, on the Kachin-China border.

Myanmar’s military lost control of the base to the KIA on March 25. Since April 11, the armed forces have been launching ground attacks and air strikes in effort to reclaim it.

April 12 saw a number of casualties on the Myanmar army’s side, including the head of LIB 387, whose body was reportedly retrieved by the military using a helicopter, a KIA officer reported.

A local man told Myanmar Now that it was estimated that some 30 soldiers were captured by the KIA.

The KIA’s Battalions 24 and 19 launched operations on Wednesday morning that killed 17 Myanmar soldiers, a source close to the KIA added.

As of Wednesday evening, Alaw Bum remained under KIA control.

A source on the ground in Mai Ja Yang– another KIA stronghold on the Chinese border where many internally displaced people live– said the situation on Thursday remained “very tense.”

“We hear the sound of artillery every day. Civilians have been ordered to dig strong bunkers,” he told Myanmar Now, adding, “We are preparing for the worst.”

After the KIA intercepted and ambushed trucks carrying the junta’s reinforcement troops headed for Alaw Bum, the military has reportedly been using domestic passenger airplanes to send forces from Meikhtila in Mandalay Region to Bhamo, Kachin State.

On April 14, these planes were used to fly in around 800 soldiers, sources close to the KIA reported.

On the frontline in Hpakant Township, another battle continued on Wednesday between the KIA and the Myanmar military, with multiple casualties reported from the military’s side. Clashes have also been taking place in Putao, on the Myitkyina-Tanai road, and in Mogok in Mandalay Region.

The number of deaths and casualties from the KIA side is yet to be confirmed.

The military junta, which is also repressing anti-dictatorship protesters nationwide, has not released any reports on the battles with the KIA.

TOTAL CAPITULATION
French oil giant still bankrolling Myanmar junta

Total, which operates Myanmar’s largest offshore gas field, is continuing to provide a revenue stream for the military regime, say company staff

Myanmar Now
Published on Apr 15, 2021

Caption: Employees from Total E&P Myanmar walk along the offshore platform of the Yadana gas field in May 2017 (Supplied)
French oil company Total is still providing significant revenue to Myanmar’s ruling military council, employees say, despite the French government’s condemnation of both the February 1 coup and the regime’s continued deadly crackdowns on protesters.

At the time of reporting, Total E&P Myanmar was under pressure to suspend its operations in the country, where at least 710 civilians have been killed in less than three months by the junta’s armed forces, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.

Members of Total’s staff spoke to Myanmar Now on the condition of anonymity, and said that income from gas exports continues to be channeled to the state-owned Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), which is controlled by the military.

“There is no suspension [of operations] at all. Natural gas is still being produced and exported for sale, and the generated income has not been seized. It is being transferred to MOGE. It is surely reaching the junta,” an engineer who has been with Total for nearly 15 years said

The company’s local employees have demanded that oil and gas revenue not be paid into the military’s coffers, in accordance with a March 5 appeal put forward by the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), a body made up of elected lawmakers ousted in the coup.

However, employees told Myanmar Now that Total has refused to honour this request

“We demanded that the company’s management stop gas delivery to Thailand– then there would be no income from gas exports for the junta,” a local employee said, referring to natural gas from the Yadana gas field in the Andaman Sea, the country’s largest.

“Another option is to freeze income from gas sales by at least holding it until the democratic government returns. But the company’s management failed to follow our request,” the employee added.

In late February, Australian oil company Woodside Energy announced it would suspend its drilling operations in Myanmar, including in the A6 offshore block in the Rakhine Basin.

Woodside and Total each hold a 40 percent stake in the project, but Total holds a non-operator role.

Total’s Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanné released a statement on April 4 in response to calls for the company to stop funding the junta, announcing that Total would discontinue drilling in the A6 block.

However, a Total employee in Myanmar dismissed the CEO’s declaration, describing it as a “trick.”

“A6 is operated by Woodside– Woodside suspended operations, not Total,” the staff member said.

Apart from the A6 site, Total’s drilling campaign in the Yadana gas field has continued throughout the current crisis. The staff member explained that company management within Myanmar had said that they would stop drilling for additional wells at the site by May, but the employee noted that the decision was not made in response to the lethal crackdowns carried out by the coup regime.

“The truth is, the drilling was already going to be done by this time,” he added.

The employee pointed out that Total is slated to continue extracting and selling gas from the Yadana field, even as the drilling of new wells halts.

In 2019 alone, the company brought in nearly $230 million in revenue to Myanmar, more than three-quarters of which went to the MOGE and the rest paid in taxes, Reuters reported.

“One thing to note about Total is that they came to Myanmar in 1992, just after the 1988 uprising,” a staff member told Myanmar Now, referring to the widespread pro-democracy movement that was brutally crushed by the military regime. “It is operating in war-torn regions and countries where dictators rule, because it is more beneficial for them,” he added.

Staff have also raised questions about their rights as workers being violated. The company employs some 300 people, an estimated 90 percent of whom are locals. One of these employees who spoke to Myanmar Now reported that management had forced at least one staff member to resign after he asked to take unpaid leave amid the ongoing regime crackdown.

“At the moment, we are on four weeks of work and four weeks of rest at home by rotation. One employee couldn’t resume his work due to the current situation in Yangon,” the staff member said, referring to shootings and arrests perpetrated by soldiers and police across the commercial capital. “He requested unpaid leave. But the management didn’t allow it, and instead made him resign. He had to submit his resignation letter voluntarily.”

Leaders of the CRPH have urged workers across all sectors nationwide to join the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) and refuse to work under the military dictatorship. However, participation in the CDM has yet to catch on among Total’s 300 employees, nearly all of whom are locals, a staff member added.

“In early March, we tried to organise to mainly demand that [Total] suspend paying taxes to the junta, but it didn’t happen. Senior staff who have been in the company for so long went to work instead of joining the CDM,” he said.

The employee remained hopeful that if the staff joined the CDM as a united front, they might be able to stop Total’s operations.

“If we all go into the CDM, the company’s operations could surely be stopped. [We] cannot be replaced easily,” he said, adding that Total would likely try to bring in overseas contractors to take over their jobs. “Each offshore platform has a different nature to it, and requires familiarity with the site. They can’t [learn] that all at once,” he explained.

In addition to operating the Yadana gas field and holding shares in the offshore drilling block A6, Total also works on at least three other deepwater blocks in the Andaman Sea, and the Yetagun West Block.