Myanmar Garment Workers Urge Global Brands to Denounce Coup (NBC)
Myanmar Garment Workers Urge Global Brands to Denounce Coup
Major international brands like H&M and Mango, which source some of their products in Myanmar, are being urged to denounce the takeover
By Anne D'innocenzio and Elaine Kurtenbach
March 19,2021
Tin Tin Wei used to toil 11 hours a day, six days week sewing jackets at a factory in Myanmar. But she hasn't stitched a single garment since a coup in February. Instead, the 26-year-old union organizer has been protesting in the streets — and trying to bring international pressure to bear on the newly installed junta.
Her union, the Federation of Garment Workers in Myanmar, and others have been staging general strikes to protest the coup and are urging major international brands like H&M and Mango, which source some of their products in Myanmar, to denounce the takeover and put more pressure on factories to protect workers from being fired or harassed — or worse arrested and killed for participating in the protests.
As international sanctions were dropped in the mid-2010s when Myanmar began shifting toward democracy after decades of military rule and started to set some labor standards, Western brands looking to diversify their sourcing were attracted to the country's cheap labor. Broad sanctions now would cripple that burgeoning clothing industry, which has been growing rapidly in recent years before the coronavirus pandemic cut orders and eliminated jobs.
Comprehensive sanctions could wreck the livelihoods of more than 600,000 garment workers, but some union leaders say they would rather see massive layoffs than endure military oppression.
https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/myanmar-garment-workers-urge-global-brands-to-denounce-coup/2583855/
