FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts:
Joseph Drexler, Strategic Campaigns – 001-615-594-2074
U.S. Union Says DuPont Engages in Hypocrisy As Partner in "Living Tomorrow" Display in Brussels, Belgium
Nashville, Tennessee – January 25, 2007 - The United Steelworkers (USW), the largest industrial union in the North America, today warned persons attending the Living Tomorrow exhibition in Brussels, Belgium not to be fooled by DuPont’s “greenwashing” and attempt to demonstrate that it practices genuine environmental sustainability. DuPont is a key partner in the exhibition.
“We believe that DuPont is trying to fool the European public into believing that it is pro-environment, but DuPont’s actual record indicates the opposite,” said Ken Test, Chairman of the USW Dupont Council. The USW represents 1,800 workers at six plants in the U.S.
The USW has criticized DuPont for its continued production of Teflon-related chemicals, contamination of water supplies, its poor health and safety record, and hostility to labor unions in the U.S. and Brazil. A fact-finding mission by the USW to Brazil revealed glaring exceptions to the company’s so-called environmental sustainability principles.
The USW and the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mining and General Workers’ Unions, a global trade union federation representing 20 million workers worldwide and headquartered in Brussels, are encouraging the public to view www.dupontsafetyrevealed.org, a website dedicated to exposing DuPont’s environmental and safety record.
In the past, the USW has called upon the United Nations to remove DuPont from the Global Compact, which comprises companies who have volunteered to adhere to environmental, human, and labor rights principles.
The USW has formed the Blue-Green Alliance with the Sierra Club, the largest member-based environmental organization in the U.S., and is working with local chapters of the Sierra Club on a variety of issues related to pollution problems at DuPont plants.
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