Brunei Protest at Noon Friday

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)Workers, women and the LGBT community are protesting Brunei’s union-busting and human rights violations Friday at noon. The Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles, owned by the Sultan of Brunei’s investment agency, in 2009 fired unionized workers and decimated their union. Brunei has also adopted a new penal code that punishes and targets women, LGBT people, and religious minorities. Amnesty International says the new code “makes a mockery of the country’s international human rights commitments and must be revoked immediately.” Earlier this month, Pride at Work and several other prominent national lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) equality organizations released a joint letter to President Obama demanding that the US cease further negotiations of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement with Brunei.