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Among other business at Weyerhaeuser’s shareholder meeting on thursday, Chuck Williamson of Unocal was nominated to the company’s Board of Directors. CEO Rogel says that his post “will be important as Weyerhaeuser develops a larger global footprint.”

Unsettling ambitions, considering that Chuck was VP of Exploration at Unocal Thailand In 1992 just as it partnered with the Thai Government to build a natural gas pipeline across the border in Myanmar.

Court records show that forced labor built the pipe and that Unocal hired the SLORC (myanmar military) to “protect” it. According to a US 9th Circuit Court ruling in 1997, “Unocal knew that forced labor was being utilized and… benefited from the practice… The military , while forcing villagers to work and relocate, committed numerous acts of violence… Unocal knew or should have known that the military did commit, was committing and would continue to commit these tortuous acts”. . . Some footprint. . .

Meanwhile, human rights abuses by Burma’s military continue today. According to EarthRights International, light infantry battalions responsible for patrolling areas around the pipeline still force villagers to carry supplies for them.The government officially does not allow such forced labor. The soldiers, however, have taken to asking the heads of villages to provide porters, and members of the village are forced to work for the battalions on a rotating basis. Those who try to refuse are told they must pay money. Some villagers have reported being beaten and others have had land confiscated for short periods.