Category: FGWM Solidarity

Solidarity Wins – Conditions at Hang Kei factory improved!

☆ auf Deutsch ☆

A major victory was achieved at Hang Kei Myanmar Garment Factory Ltd following an internationally coordinated effort by grassroot labour unions.

Key data:

  • Factory owned by Hang Kei Garment Co. Ltd with its head office in Hong Kong / a subsidiary company of Koon Ngai Garment Factory Ltd based in Hong Kong as well.
  • The factory is located in the Yangon industrial area with more than 1000 workers.
  • Products: lingerie
  • Brands: Hunkemöller (Hunkemöller International B.V. based in Hilversum, Netherlands and Worcestershire, UK) | La Vie En Rose (owned by Boutique La Vie en Rose Inc. based in Montreal, Canada) | My Specials (belongs to Women’Secret based in Madrid, Spain)

For many months Hang Kei Myanmar Garment Factory has made negative headlines. At the beginning of April 2025 we received news of positive changes inside the factory.

Chronology of events:

March 8th (Day of Feminist Struggles): Internationally coordinated actions inside factories of Myanmar and outside shops of companies placing orders at those factories. Main theme “Menstrual products for all who need them!”.
Among others Hunkemöller was confronted with the demands put together by factory workers on the ground. The factory management of Hang Kei Myanmar Garment Factory Ltd was reached out to internationally as well.

March 17th: An audit team (from Hunkemöller), incl. doctors, visits the factory and also speaks to the workers.

April 7th: Factory management reacts and presents the changes applied following the six demands put forward by the workers. May Su Lwin works at Hang Kei factory in Yangon and reports about the recent changes:

May 8th: An audit team visits the factory again to check, if the changes are adopted correctly.

June 1st: May Su Lwin confirmed at an online meeting between FGWM and ICL Working Group Asia that the structural changes are still being maintained and the situation for the many workers has improved noticeably.

We do see the positive changes inside the factory and appreciate the efforts by Hunkemöller and the factory management. At the same time we emphasize that we keep monitoring the developments on the ground closely and are always ready to escalate the struggle again.

Menstrual products for all who need them!
Global solidarity is our weapon!

The following grassroot labour organisations were involved in this coordination:
☆ Federation of General Workers Myanmar (FGWM)
☆ International Confederation of Labour (ICL-CIT) Working Group Asia
☆ Syndicates and individual members of the Free Workers’ Union (FAU) in various cities

contact: asia@icl-cit.org

Ein bedeutender Erfolg wurde in der Fabrik der Hang Kei Myanmar Garment Factory Ltd. erzielt, nachdem sich auf internationaler Ebene Basisgewerkschaften zusammengetan hatten.

Eckdaten:

  • Fabrik im Besitz von Hang Kei Garment Co. Ltd mit Hauptsitz in Hongkong / eine Tochtergesellschaft von Koon Ngai Garment Factory Ltd, ebenfalls mit Sitz in Hongkong.
  • Die Fabrik befindet sich im Industriegebiet von Yangon und beschäftigt mehr als 1000 Arbeiter*innen.
  • Produkte: Dessous/ Unterwäsche
  • Marken: Hunkemöller (Hunkemöller International B.V. mit Sitz in Hilversum, Niederlande, und Worcestershire, Großbritannien) | La Vie En Rose (im Besitz von Boutique La Vie en Rose Inc. mit Sitz in Montreal, Kanada) | My Specials (gehört zu Women’Secret mit Sitz in Madrid, Spanien)

Seit vielen Monaten sorgt die Bekleidungsfabrik Hang Kei Myanmar für negative Schlagzeilen. Anfang April 2025 erhielten wir jedoch Nachrichten über positive Veränderungen innerhalb der Fabrik.

Was ist passiert?

08. März (Feministischer Kampftag): International koordinierte Aktionen in Fabriken in Myanmar und vor Filialen von Unternehmen, die Aufträge an diese Fabriken vergeben. Schwerpunkt: „Menstruationsprodukte für alle, die sie brauchen!“.
Unter anderem wurde Hunkemöller mit den Forderungen konfrontiert, die von den Fabrikarbeiter*innen vor Ort zusammengetragen wurden. Auch an das Fabrikmanagement der Hang Kei Myanmar Garment Factory Ltd wurde international herangetreten.

17. März: Eine Prüfungskommission (von Hunkemöller), darunter auch Ärzt*innen, besucht die Fabrik und spricht mit den Arbeiter*innen.

07. April: Das Management der Fabrik reagiert und stellt die Änderungen vor, die sie aufgrund der sechs Forderungen der Belegschaft umsetzt. May Su Lwin arbeitet in der Hang Kei-Fabrik in Yangon und berichtet darüber, was konkret verändert wurde:

08. Mai: Die Prüfungskommission besucht die Fabrik erneut, um festzustellen, ob die Änderungen weiterhin bestand haben und vom Management umgesetzt werden.

01. Juni: May Su Lwin bestätigt beim Online-Treffen zwischen FGWM und ICL Arbeitsgruppe Asien, dass die strukturellen Veränderungen weiterhin aufrecht erhalten werden und sich die Situation für die vielen Arbeiter*innen merklich verbessert hat.

Wir nehmen die positiven Veränderungen in der Fabrik wahr und schätzen die Bemühungen von Hunkemöller sowie der Fabrikleitung. Gleichzeitig betonen wir, dass wir die Entwicklungen vor Ort weiterhin genau beobachten und jederzeit bereit sind, den Kampf erneut zu eskalieren.

Menstruationsprodukte für alle, die sie brauchen!
Globale Solidarität ist unsere Waffe!

Die folgenden Basisgewerkschaften waren an dieser Koordinierung beteiligt:

☆ Federation of General Workers Myanmar (FGWM)
☆ International Confederation of Labour (ICL-CIT) Arbeitsgruppe Asien
☆ Syndikate und einzelne Mitglieder der Freien Arbeiter*innen-Union (FAU) in verschiedenen Städten

Kontakt: asia@icl-cit.org

Call for Solidarity: Menstrual products for all who need them! (8M 2025)

The poor conditions of santiary facilities as well as the lack of menstrual products pose severe problems for factory workers worldwide. The Federation of General Workers Myanmar (FGWM) together with the working group Asia of the International Confederation of Labour (ICL) initiated an international call to commemorate the Day of Feminist Struggles on March 8th and push for changes inside the factories.

On March 8th the factory workers will attempt to inform the management/owners about their demands. All comrades worldwide can help to increase the pressure by approaching retailers/ brands involved, for example by handing over the demands put forward by the factory unions on the ground to the store management.

Check out the call as well as the list of demands and brands involved below.
You can download leaflets in English and German for March 8th here.

Contact: asia@icl-cit.org

Call: International Day of Feminist Struggle –
Menstrual products for all who need them!

Imagine you’re in pain, you’re bleeding, but you cannot leave work. You do not only risk consequences – you physically cannot leave the premises without the permission of your boss.

That is the reality for thousands of female workers at garment factories in South and South East Asia. Especially in Myanmar, the situation got even worse within the past four years, since the military forcibly took power, (re)installing a dictatorship. Even when the female workers are on their period they have to work overtime, six days a week and without proper sanitary facilities. In addition, the prices for menstrual pads have been rising so high, that most workers cannot afford them anymore. The toilets aren’t clean, there’s trash all over the place, the lights aren’t working properly and the workers use left over fabric from the garment factories as pads, often resulting in infections and allergies.

Not just in Myanmar – affected people all over the world have to pay for their own menstrual products and need to perform like anyone else on their jobs while suffering from pain and bleeding. Some are worse off than others as pain is always individual, and the various factors that lead to pain affect each person differently and vary from day to day.

In some countries, like South Korea, Taiwan and Zambia, some form of a right to menstrual leave was introduced already. Also, in Spain a similar regulation was just passed in 2023. Looking at these examples, there is no excuse for other countries not to follow suit!

On the global level we struggle for:

  • Free menstrual products at the workplace or the payment of a bonus equal to the cost of these products!
  • Paid leave for workers during their menstruation period!
  • Adjustment of workload for pregnant or menstruating workers and dropping of imposed production targets!

The comrades of FGWM push for the following demands inside the factories:

  • Free menstrual products at the workplace or the payment of a bonus equal to the cost of these products!
  • Paid leave during menstruation period and a guarantee that workers can leave the factory or have the possibility to rest at the factory clinic!
  • Adjustment of workload for pregnant or menstruating workers and dropping of compulsory production targets!
  • Clean toilets, drinking water, soap and additional garbage bins for menstrual products at all factories!
  • Provide necessary healthcare for female workers at the workplace – also during their menstruation period!
  • Provide contraceptives for free or pay a refund!

Our demands are directed at the factory owners as well as the brands/ corporations, which mainly profit from the exploitation inside the factories. They must ensure that the required working conditions are met at the factories they source from!

The factory unions on the ground affiliated to FGWM confirm that production is currently taking place for the following brands: 

1/ Sinsay (owned by LPP S.A. based in Gdansk, Poland. The company owns five distinct fashion brands: Reserved, House, Cropp, Mohito and Sinsay.)
2/ SHISKY (owned by DRIVE Ltd based in Nagoya, Japan)
3/ BREIZH OCEAN (based in Saint-Vigor-le-Grand, France)
4/ ONLY & VERO MODA (both belong to the company BESTSELLER based in Brande, Denmark)
5/ SOULCAL & CO (owned by the retail, sport and intellectual property group Frasers Group plc based in Shirebrook, UK)
6/  H & M (owned by H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB based in Stockholm, Sweden)
7/ ENCUENTRO (Encuentro Fashion Group based in Barcelona, Tenerife and Shanghai)
8/ ZARA & Bershka (both owned by the multinational fashion design, manufacturing, and retailing group Inditex based in Arteixo, Spain)
9/ SIOEN (Sioen Industries based in Ardooie, Belgium)
10/ FB SISTER (belongs to the retailer New Yorker – New Yorker Group Services International GmbH & Co.KG – based in Braunschweig, Germany)
11/ La Vie En Rose (owned by Boutique La Vie en Rose Inc. based in Montreal, Canada)
12/ Hunkemöller (Hunkemöller International B.V. based in Hilversum, Netherlands and Worcestershire, UK)
13/ My Specials (belongs to Women’Secret based in Madrid, Spain)
14/ FieldCore (owned by Workman Co., Ltd. based in Shiba-cho, Japan)
15/ Etam (Etam Groupe based in Paris, France)
16/ LC Waikiki (ready-to-wear fashion company based in Istanbul, Turkey)
17/ Wilson Sporting Goods (owned by Amer Sports based in Helsinki, Finland)
18/ BH Bikes (Beistegui Hermanos S.A. based in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain)

Supporters of this call:

Solidarity against Patriarchy – worldwide!

Wildcat strike at Zhi Yuan factory (Yangon, Myanmar)

“Workers are on strike at Zhi Yuan Garment Co. Ltd Factory”

FGWM, November 26, 2024

In Hlaing Thar Yar Township, Yangon Region, at Shwe Lin Ban Industrial Zone, No. 99, Hospital (1) Road, workers at the Chinese-owned Zhi Yuan Garment Co. Ltd factory are staging a work stoppage today, November 26, 2024. Around 300 workers are working in this factory and 250 of them are demanding the dismissal of a Chinese interpreter who has physically assaulted workers, which they deem unacceptable. The demands also include stopping the unjust practices of supervisors and management who verbally abuse workers and force them to work under oppressive conditions. There are a total of 13 demands put forward by the workers.

In front of the factory, government officials, hired thugs, soldiers, and police officers from the nearby police station arrived. A worker informed the Federation of General Workers Myanmar (FGWM) that the factory management called in soldiers and police in response. One of the organised workers spearheading the demands is in hiding because armed soldiers, police, and thugs are searching for him. Workers have also stated that armed soldiers are threatening them to return to work inside the factory. A worker shared that, “A soldier pointed a gun at us and ordered everyone to return to their work, threatening us with the weapon.” Another worker said, “Thugs threatened us, saying if we don’t stay calm, they will hit each of us at least once.”

The workers are appealing to involved brands and the general public to be informed about the situation and urgently resolve these issues. The Federation of General Workers Myanmar (FGWM) was contacted for assistance.

One of the main retailers profiting from the exploitation of the factory workers is New Yorker, which is based in Braunschweig (Germany).

Due to the pressure of authorities, workers had to enter their workplace, but in the end just sat there and refused to work (2PM, 26 Nov 2024).

The 13 demands of the striking workers:

  1. Provide an monthly attendance bonus of 50,000 MMK (22.55 EUR).
  2. Pay overtime wages of 2,000 MMK (0.90 EUR) per hour.
  3. Implement a fair grade system and pay workers accordingly.
  4. Grant paid leave and public holidays in compliance with Myanmar labour laws.
  5. Provide piecework payments based on actual production targets set by the factory.
  6. Pay the attendance bonus wages twice monthly (once for the first two weeks on the 15th and once for the second two weeks at the end of the month).
  7. Dismiss HR Manager Ma Nu Nu Wai from her position.
  8. Set up a suggestion box for workers to voice their concerns.
  9. Establish an on-site medical room with qualified healthcare professionals and allow workers time off for medical needs.
  10. Dismiss the interpreter who engaged in physical assaults against workers.
  11. Grant workers 15 minutes of break time for food and drinks before overtime shifts start.
  12. Ensure supervisors and line leaders refrain from unfairly pressuring, shouting, or verbally abusing workers.
  13. Improve the quality of the drinking water supply in the factory. Workers report that the current water is unsanitary, leading to illnesses such as diarrhea and food poisoning.

Among others the factory workers produce clothes for FB (fishbone) Sister owned by New Yorker:

Yangon (Myanmar): Wildcat strike at Charis sculpture factory

☆ SOLIDARITY ☆

More than 300 of the 500 workers at the factory run by Charis Company Ltd (RHEA Workshop Co. Ltd) located in Mya Sein Yaung Industrial Zone in Yangon Region (Myanmar) went on a wildcat strike on November 6th. The factory workers produce sculptures primarily for Wise Unicorn Industrial Ltd.

The conflict started when bonus payments (which should have been made by Oct. 21st) were not made by the management. In a first step some workers refused to work overtime and staged a sit-in on October 31st. As the situation intensified two female workers were physically attacked by the factory director Wang Xiao Jun. He grabbed their hands and pushed them hard enough that they fell over.
On November 6th 350 workers united in a walk-out and handed over a list of 17 demands to the management, incl. the dismissal of the director who attacked the workers.

Only one day later 13 workers were fired for inciting strike actions. The remaining workers on strike joined those who were locked out in front of the factory compound and staged a sit-in demanding that the 13 workers must be reinstated. On the same day plain clothed police entered the factory compound saying that they want to “help with negotiations” and threatening workers to stop striking or be forcibly dispersed

On November 12th a letter was submitted by the workers of Charis factory to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) asking for support.

Wise Unicorn Industrial Ltd has its headquarter in Taipei and further offices in Hong Kong and Hui Yang City (Guang Dong) as well as showrooms in the USA.

The information of this report was shared by factory workers on the ground with the Federation of General Workers Myanmar (FGWM) and was forwarded to the International Confederation of Labour (ICL-CIT) Working Group Asia.

Updates on the developments will be published here as soon as they are received.

Solidarity

On November 23rd comrades of the Free Workers’ Union (FAU) Dresden used their annual retreat to express their support for the workers struggling at Charis factory and send greetings to the friends of the Federation of General Workers Myanmar (FGWM).

A fundraising in support of the factory workers was set up by a union organiser in Washington DC. Support it, if you can.

Workers report: Union busting at Very Impressive Prospect (VIP) factory in Myanmar

Company: Very Impressive Prospect Co., Ltd (VIP)

Location: Shwe Pyi Thar Industrial Zone 3, Yangon Region (Myanmar)

Number of workers: 2 800

Product: sports equipment

Violations: union busting, lack of safety at work

Brands: Beistegui Hermanos S.A. (BH, bicycles, Spain), FIV Edoardo Bianchi S.p.A. (Bianchi, bicycles, Italy), Wilson Sporting Goods Company (USA), Mizuno (Japan), among others.

Workers organised with the Federation of General Workers Myanmar (FGWM) report about severe problems and labour rights violations at Very Impressive Prospect (VIP) factory. Established in 1982, VIP focuses “on the development of carbon fiber composites and also provide[s] comprehensive manufacturing services for well-known brands among the world“. (vipsports.com.tw) It has its headquarter in Taichung City (Taiwan). In this report the allegations focus on the VIP factory in Shwe Pyi Thar Industrial Zone 3, Yangon Region (Myanmar), where around 2 800 workers produce mostly sports equipment for brands such as the Wilson Sporting Goods Company (USA), BH bicycles (Spain) and Bianchi bicycles (Italy).

☆ Latest Updates ☆ Reports by workers ☆ Demands by factory workers ☆ How things started ☆ What now? ☆

UPDATES

September 2nd 2024

Workers on the ground inform that the labour dispute inside VIP factory ended for now. They managed to pressure the factory management to accept 12 demands, including the formation of a Workplace Coordination Committee. In an environment shaped by a military junta, where labour unions are still considered illegal, this is a great success! We congratulate the workers and are willing to stand side by side with the factory workers again in the future, if needed!

August 13th 2024

Workers of all departments start another wildcat strike demanding increases in wages and a general stop on labour rights violations!

FGWM informs:

Due to increasing commodity prices and difficulties surviving, VIP workers announced their 12 demands, including increase in wages and attendance and experience bonuses, stopping to force workers to work on public holidays, and allowing them to take legal leaves. On the first day, the factory management informed police and military soldiers to visit the workplace to stop the strike. The factory production manager threatened workers stating that they can’t agree with the workers’ demands and the factory would be closed if they continued the strike. On the second day, 14 August, the employer arranged a meeting with five workers’ representatives and the chief of Shwe Pyi Thar Police to investigate and threaten. “You all are leaders of this strike, and it is illegal, so we will arrest you. You are all responsible for this if workers refuse to work for three days. You have two options: accept the employer’s offer or face your arrest,” a worker informed FGWM. “In our past experiences, they (the employer) told the police and the military to hit, to intimidate workers and to follow the worker’s leaders till their homes”, a worker said. In 2023, the VIP factory dismissed a worker organizer due to her organizing efforts inside the factory. Also back then the HR manager, Daw May Thwel Soe, invited police and soldiers to the workplace and told them in front of workers that the employer could bribe police to arrest workers. The employer still refuses to reinstate the dismissed worker organizer. A worker inside the factory said, “As always happened, our factory will bring police and soldiers, intimidated workers. We want to inform the public and the brands ordering from us of this situation.”

April 8th 2024

Bianchi Pacific Co. Ltd. (Taiwan) was contacted once again by ICL Working Group Asia, confronting the General Manager with the proof provided by workers on the ground last month. As can be seen in the email attached, Zoe Wang reacted promptly, insisting that Bianchi does not source from VIP Myanmar factory anymore. FGWM will double check with workers on the ground.

April 3rd & April 7th 2024

Wilson Sporting Goods (owned by Amer Sports) confirmed that they hired a team to investigate conditions at VIP Myanmar factory. On April 3rd they met with a member of the VIP factory union. On April 7th the investigation team talked to two former workers who were union members as well and recently got dismissed.

It remains to be seen, if the investigations will result in any significant changes inside the factory for the Workers involved.

March 29th 2024

Workers on the ground report about cuts in water supply for those departments with union members.

March 27th 2024

Workers report that the boss forces workers to sign warning letters written in Chinese language.

Workers who had to sign them want to stay anonymous.

March 20th 2024

Workers report of an increase in work-related injuries due to a lack of protection from chemical liquids.

March 17th 2024

The struggle at VIP factory was included in this years’ call for Global May Day 2024! All unions are asked to stand in solidarity with the factory workers during their May Day actions.

March 9th 2024

BH Bikes responds to the email sent by ICL Working Group Asia with a standard email:

March 8th 2024

Workers on the ground provide footages recently recorded from inside the factory proving that Bianchi keeps sourcing from VIP factory, though the factory management tries to prevent workers from taking pictures.

March 4th 2024

General Manager of Bianchi in Taiwan claims that they don’t source from VIP factory in Yangon anymore:

Feb. 28th – March 4th 2024

ICL Working Group Asia reaches out to BH Bikes and Bianchi asking them for a statement on the problems expressed by the workers on the ground, to get in touch with FGWM and to pressure the factory owner to resolve the conflict in the interest of the workers.

We want to make clear that we as the International Confederation of Labour stand side by side with our friends in Myanmar. Since Bianchi sources parts from VIP factory we expect you to get in touch with the workers on the ground by contacting FGWM and also pressure the factory management to resolve the issues peacefully and in the interest of the workers!

from the email sent to the brands

Brands are asked to respond by March 10th, otherwise we feel forced to escalate the struggle even further on the international level.

Workers on the ground report:

  • Union busting! Workers active in the union get less bonus payments. Factory management claims that there is no labour union for their factory. Those workers who dare to still approach remaining labour union activists are threatened.
  • Taking days off is denied! Applications for legal leave are not granted. Workers are also denied medical leave. Those who demand entitled leave are pressured to sign warning letters. After four warning letters the worker gets fired.
  • Lack of safety measures! Frequent work accidents. Accidents happen with the machines, resulting in broken bones. But also allergic reactions due to dust and toxic fumes in the sanding department are a problem. Necessary protection gear and ointment is hardly available. Furthermore the stock of medical equipment is inadequate.
    Additionally workers are exposed to hazardous chemicals at the moulding department. Workers are instructed to wash the molds with MEK (Butanone) and feel unwell (hotness in the stomach, dizziness) when using it.

There are also chemicals at sanding and painting departments, which usually are hidden away by the factory, when the factory inspection visits. And there is no awareness training on how to use those chemicals and their side effects.

VIP factory worker
  • Unclean drinking water and unhygienic sanitary conditions! Toilet doors are broken and can’t be locked. No soap is available.
  • During factory inspections the management selects workers and instructs them what to say, for example claiming that there are no night shifts.

Factory management arranges pre-orchestrated answer sheets for audits done by brands. They handed out the answer sheet to the workers whom the audit will interview and then instructed them to answer accordingly. Workers who answer wrongly get punished afterwards. For example by denying overtime work.

VIP factory worker
  • No respect! Supervisors technicians shout at the workers.
    Some female workers also report about cases of sexual harassment by drunken technicians at night.
  • Unreasonable production targets! Workers are pressured to finish unreasonable production targets and are forced to sign warning letters, if targets are not met. Once again, after four warning letters, workers are fired.
  • Workers are pressured to do work which is not covered by their working contract, e.g. cut plants and clean the area.

The factory workers demand:

  • Reinstatement of two fired labour union secretaries!
  • Management (esp. HR management) must stop methods of unions busting!
  • Stop methods of intimidation, e.g. forcing workers to sign warning letters when applying to take leave!
  • Legally entitled leave must be granted!
  • New factory machines must be installed!
  • Industry-grade safety gloves, boots, shields, earbuds and sufficient ointment medical lotion! Protection gear must be provided to all workers!
    Also soap for hand-washing is needed!
  • Allow injured workers to take paid medical leave as required by the doctors and until workers fully recover! After all workplace accidents are a result of the managements’ failure to provide a safe work environment (e.g. repair/replace broken machines).
  • Factory management must negotiate with workers on reasonable production targets and stop threatening with warning letters, if targets are not met!
  • Stop threatening behaviour by supervisors! No more verbal abuse! No more gender-based violence and sexual haressment!
    HR manager Mr. M.T.S. must start a dialogue and negotiate with workers.
  • Management must stop manipulating the audits done by the brands and authorities!
    No repression for workers who honestly answer questions during audits.
    Most importantly, factory must allow members of the union to meet with the buyers’ audit team to respond to their questions regarding the conditions at work.
  • Management must educate workers on the dangers related to the use of hazardous chemicals and how to react if contacted! Prohibited hazardous chemicals should not be used inside the factory.
  • Management must stop assigning workers to different departments without their consent!

How things started

December 23rd 2023

Union secretary Ms. M. M. K. was unfairly dismissed by the factory. Before the dismissal, she was working at the molding line 3 during which she was shouted at by the technician for accidentally breaking something. This led to an argument between the two. As a result she was immediately dismissed with a notification letter. The letter states that she has already been warned and had signed the three warning letters before. This was the fourth time and therefore she was dismissed.

December 26th 2023

The workers from the union organised a collective bargaining strike inside the factory compound demanding for the reinstatement of the dismissed union secretary along with other demands.
While on strike, police, soldiers, township administration and labor officers arrived at the factory. Upon arrival, they collected the personal information and home addresses of the striking workers. They also checked the mobile phones of labour union activists. Afterwards they were brought to the factory office at which a lieutenant and a labor officer arbitrated the negotiation between the factory owner and the workers. However, the negotiation favorably sided with the factory owner. The striking workers were threatened by the authorities that they will be arrested if they launch a strike again tomorrow and that they will be in danger if they upload the photos about this online. During that negotiation, a lieutenant also slapped one of the union secretaries, who is a union executive member. The factory owner and factory manager, during this negotiation, urged the authorities to arrest the dismissed union secretary. For safety reasons, workers decided to return to work and wait for adequate reactions from the involved brands.

December 27th 2023

When the striking workers returned to work, factory management demanded them to sign the warning letter.
Factory management also deducted half of the daily wages of the 36 workers who joined the strike, though they had worked a full eight-hour-workday. They were also pressured to sign the warning letters under the pretext of not completing the production target.
During these days, forcing the workers to complete the unreasonable production target during day and night shifts became worse.

December 28th 2023

The current department in-charge of sanding line 3 verbally and privately warned a fellow union executive committee member not to mobilise workers from painting line 3 and sanding line 3 to organize the collective bargaining action.
On the same day, factory management coerced the workers to sign that they voluntarily agreed to work overtime.

December 29th 2023

At 4:15pm factory management brought four union activists into the office and unilaterally refused to accept any of the striking workers’ demands giving various reasons.

December 30th 2023

Factory management took pictures of staff IDs of workers who were involved in the strike. The management personnel exerts oppression on those workers in addition to daily surveillance.

January 15th 2024

Factory management forces a worker who refused to sign the warning letter on December 28th to work overtime without his consent.

January 18th 2024

Without acknowledging the workers’s representatives elected by the workers, the factory management unilaterally posted the names and photos of the appointed six workers’ representatives on the factory wall. The workers reported that out of the appointed six, they are only familiar with four people who are currently at the workplace and the other two are those who no longer work at the factory.
Moreover, workers, who were involved in the strike, were transfered to different departments without their consent. Three days after the transfer, they were confronted with high production targets and asked to sign the warning letter if unable to complete the target. Five days later, supervisors asked them to sign the second warning letter.

February 3rd/ 4th 2024

Audit team visited the factory. Factory owner made sure that workers told the audit staff only what they want them to say. No report was made available to the workers until now (Feb. 23rd 2024).

February 20th 2024

Labour union executive committee member Ms. M. M. K. was fired. She received the majority of votes when the workplace coordination committee was formed.

What now?

International partners (International Confederation of Labour (ICL-CIT) and Solidarity Center) approach brands and inform them about the conditions inside the factory. In case brands don’t react accordingly a call for public actions in solidarity with the workers will follow.

Stay tuned.

Side by side with FGWM in Myanmar (fundraising)

Goal: 15 000 EUR by August 31st 2023 to enable comrades of the Federation of General Workers Myanmar (FGWM) to continue their work!

Below you will find more details on the FGWM itself as well as a message from a garment factory worker.

fundraising page: firefund.net ☆ website: fgwm-solidarity.org ☆ solidarity shirts: dnamerch.de
worker message (ဗမာ) ☆ background info ☆ what can I do?
contact: info@fgwm-solidarity.org

Message from a garment factory worker organised with FGWM:

* အောက်ကမြန်မာပြည်မှာ *

Hello, Mingalarbar. I’m reaching out to seek assistance from fellow members of international unions. I work in the garment industry and hold a leadership role within the union. I’m a part of both the Federation of General Workers (FGWM) and a leading position in a garment factory’s union. These unions have been actively combating labor exploitation and advocating for workers’ rights through united efforts. The recent military coup has turned our workplaces into unbearable environments.
Under the leadership of FGWM, our trade unions initiated campaigns (inside factories) against the military dictatorship on February 5, 2021, immediately after the coup. On February 6, our union federation, FGWM became the pioneering group to voice opposition against the military rule in Yangon. Unfortunately, this led to their identification and subsequent capture by the military. Many workers have also become jobless as they fled their workplaces to escape danger. Some have been imprisoned due to the military’s arrests.
At present, amidst extreme challenges and the oppressive actions of employers within the workplace, we are seeking aid for fellow workers. These individuals include those spearheading the movement for labor rights and federal democracy, as well as those imprisoned for advocating human and women’s rights in the workplace. We earnestly request support from our international unions and comrades to help with solidarity.
We have only a limited time left to participate in the fundraising campaign aimed at supporting our comrades inside factories.

message by a factory worker shared on August 23rd, 2023

Original message in Burmese:

မင်္ဂလာပါ
နိုင်ငံတကာမှာ ရှိနေတဲ့ သမဂ္ဂညီအကို မောင်နှမများကို ကျွန်မအနေနဲ့ အကူအညီတောင်းချင်ပါတယ်။ ကျွန်မသည် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံအထည်ချုပ်လုပ်ငန်းခွင်ထဲက အလုပ်သမားတစ်ဦးဖြစ်ပြီးတော့ အလုပ်သမား သမဂ္ဂခေါင်းဆောင်တစ်ဦးလည်းဖြစ်ပါတယ်။ ကျွန်မတို့ အလုပ်သမား သမဂ္ဂဟာ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံအထွေထွေအလုပ်သမား သမဂ္ဂများအဖွဲ့ချုပ် ရဲ့ အဖွဲ့ဝင်သမဂ္ဂတစ်ခုလည်း ဖြစ်ပါတယ်။ စစ်အာဏာမသိမ်းခင်ကဆိုရင် ကျွန်မတို့ အလုပ်သမားတွေဟာ လုပ်ငန်းခွင်တွေထဲက အလုပ်ရှင်တွေရဲ့ ဖိနှိပ်မှုတွေ၊ လုပ်အား ခေါင်းပုံဖြတ်မှုတွေ၊ အလုပ်သမားအခွင့်အရေးတွေကို သမဂ္ဂအင်အားနဲ့ တိုက်ယူခဲ့ကြရပါတယ်။ လက်ရှိမှာလည်း စက်ရုံလုပ်ငန်းခွင်တွေဟာ စစ်အာဏာသိမ်းမှုကြောင့် ငရဲခန်းနဲ့ မခြားတဲ့ လုပ်ငန်းခွင်တွေဖြစ်နေပါတယ်။ သပိတ်တိုက်ပွဲတွေနဲ့ မစိမ်းတဲ့ ကျွန်မတို့ အလုပ်သမားတွေဟာ စစ်အာဏာသိမ်းအပြီး ၂၀၂၁ခုနှစ်၊ ဖေဖော်ဝါရီ (၅) ရက်နေ့မှာတော့ စက်ရုံတွင်း စစ်အာဏာရှင်ဆန့်ကျင်ရေး လှုပ်ရှားမှုတွေ စတင်ခဲ့ပါတယ်။ နောက်တရက် ဖေဖော်ဝါရီ (၆) ရက်နေ့မှာ စစ်အာဏာရှင် ဆန့်ကျင်ရေး လမ်းပေါ်ထွက်ချီတက် လှုပ်ရှားမှုကို သမဂ္ဂခေါင်းဆောင်များအပါအဝင် စက်ရုံအလုပ်သမားထုနဲ့အတူ ချီတက်ခဲ့ကြပြီးတော့ အဆိုပါလှုပ်ရှားမှုဟာ ရန်ကုန်မြို့မှာ အစောဆုံး စစ်အာဏာရှင်စနစ်ဆန့်ကျင်ရေး လှုပ်ရှားမှုဖြစ်ခဲ့ပါတယ်။
ဒီနောက်ပိုင်းမှာတော့ ကျွန်မတို့ အလုပ်သမားသမဂ္ဂတွေကို မလိုလားတဲ့ အလုပ်ရှင်တွေဟာ စစ်တပ်နဲ့ပူးပေါင်းပြီးတော့ စက်ရုံလုပ်ငန်းခွင်တွေအထိ အလုပ်သမားသမဂ္ဂခေါင်းဆောင်တွေ၊ အဖွဲ့ဝင်တွေကို ဝင်ရောက်ဖမ်းဆီးခဲ့ပါတယ်။ လုပ်ငန်းခွင်တွေကနေ ထွက်ပြေးတိမ်းရှောင်ရလို့ အလုပ်လက်မဲ့ ဖြစ်နေရတဲ့အလုပ်သမားတွေများစွာရှိပါတယ်။ စစ်တပ်ရဲ့ ဖမ်းစီးမှုကြောင့် ထောင်ကျနေတဲ့ အလုပ်သမားတွေလည်း ရှိနေပါတယ်။ လက်ရှိအချိန်မှာတော့ လုပ်ငန်းခွင်တွေထဲမှာ အလုပ်ရှင်တွေရဲ့ဖိနှိပ်မှု အခက်ခဲများစွာကြားကနေ စစ်အာဏာရှင်စနစ်ကို တော်လှန်နေတဲ့ အလုပ်သမားရဲဘော်တွေ၊ ထောင်ကျနေတဲ့ အလုပ်သမားရဲဘော်တွေ၊ လုပ်ငန်းခွင်အတွင်းက လူ့အခွင့်အရေး၊အမျိုးသမီးအခွင့်အရေး၊ အလုပ်သမားအခွင့်အရေး ချိုးဖောက်ခံနေကြရတဲ့ သမဂ္ဂအဖွဲ့ဝင်အလုပ်သမားများစွာအတွက် အကူအညီများလိုအပ်နေပါတယ်။နိုင်ငံတကာမှာရှိနေသည့် သမဂ္ဂညီအကို မောင်နှမများအနေဖြင့် သွေးစည်းညီညွှတ်မှုဖြင့်ကူညီပေးကြဖို့ မေတ္တာရပ်ခံအပ်ပါတယ်။
အလုပ်သမားရဲဘော်တွေအတွက် ရန်ပုံငွေရှာတဲ့ ကမ်ပိန်းမှာ ပါဝင်ပေးကြဖို့ ရက်အနည်းငယ်သာကျန်ပါတော့တယ်။ အဲ့ဒါကြောင့်မို့ အမြန်ဆုံး ကူညီပေးကြဖို့ တိုက်တွန်းနှိုးဆော်ပါရစေ။

Some background info:

The FGWM consists of 40 (factory) labour unions and keeps uniting thousands of members. It is one of the very few labour federations known to us in Asia, which follows a grassroots approach. The FGWM has its roots in the textile factories of the industrial zones in Myanmar. The vast majority of secretaries had to flee to escape pocecution by the military junta and now operates from a house in exile. Some of the comrades who initiated this fundraising met them at their house last year. They emphasized they some of them only managed to escape with the support provided by the previous fundraising done last year.
Despite the military dictatorship they continue with their efforts. The FGWM supports workers to get organised, follows labour fights (like the recent strike at Sun Apparel), which still take place under great danger, and also tries to support members facing state repression, for example seeking refuge or supporting them in prison as far as this is possible. Another focal point is to provide training opportunities for factory workers in regards to organising and labour struggles. All of this can’t be upheld without external support. Due to the extremely precarious living conditions, which evolved especially after the military coup in February 2021, the income of membership fees collapsed. Their supportive partners on the international level are the ICL Working Group Asia as well as the Solidarity Center.

For more information: fgwm-solidarity.org

Who is behind the fundraising?

It was initiated by the Free Workers’ Union (FAU) Hamburg together with the FGWM. And by now it is being also supported and conducted by comrades of other FAU syndicates, the IWW WISE-RA as well as Earth Strike UK.

Great! So what can I do?

First of all, you can support the work of FGWM by simply contributing to the fundraising. You can do so with a credit card using the firefund page or by transfering to the account of FAU Hamburg.

Account name: AS FAU Hamburg
IBAN: DE43 4306 0967 2070 7898 00
BIC: GENODEM1GLS
Bank name: GLS Bank
Purpose: FGWM solidarity

In the end all contributions will be added to the firefund page. The amounts submitted via firefund will only be deducted from your account, if the fundraising is successful, i.e. in case the goal of 15 000 EUR is reached.
Furthermore you can help to inform many others about this effort by spreading the links listed at the beginning. Furthermore you can order a stylish solidarity shirt at DNA Merch. They will take orders until August 31st 2023 and then ask a textile/ printing collective in Croatia to make them.

Union busting following strike at JAKO factory in Yangon (Sun Apparel)

☆ Intro to the struggle ☆ latest UPDATES ☆

Intro to the struggle

Workers at Sun Apparel Myanmar Co. Ltd garment factory have been on strike since June 6, 2023. Almost the whole factory workforce, totalling just more than 400 workers, united in the strike action.
One of their main demands is an increase of the basic daily wage from 4,800 MMK (approx. 2.09€) to 6,000 MMK (approx. 2.61€) per day. According to the minimum wage law, the minimum wage should be reviewed every 2 years and the last time the minimum wage was set in 2018. Since then, no review took place. In the industrial zone, there are a number of factories which have recently increased the minimum daily wage to 5,600 MMK per day, which also motivated the workers to go on strike. The increase in wages is vital due to the significant inscreases in prices for basic commodities. Not increasing wages since 2018 is like cutting your wages each month!

According to sources close to the military council, M.T.W., the leader of the Sun Apparel Myanmar garment factory protest workers, has been arrested by the military council. M.T.W. was arrested a day before the scheduled date to negotiate the demands.

The sources also said that it was known that M.T.W. was arrested at around 11:00 p.m. on June 14, and was taken to the No. 1 Army Military Affairs Security Support Unit for questioning.

source: khaingzaraung.com

Another main demand is the increase of attendance bonus from 20,000 MMK (approx. 8.70€) to 40,000 MMK per month. This bonus was deducted during the Covid pandemic to 10,000 MMK and still remains at 10,000 MMK. In addition to these two main demands, there are several other demands related to serious violations of labour rights.

Those include:

  • Factory management calls for meetings during the workers’ lunch break.
  • Although there is no clause prohibiting to bring your mobile phone to the workplace, they are confiscated during work hours and not even stored properly, so that in some cases they are returned damaged.
  • For those workers who can’t or don’t want to work overtime after an eight-hour work day, the factory does not arrange return ferries to their homes. Furthermore the management refuses to pay the piece rate fees for the completed pieces during these eight hours.
  • The factory owners don’t provide a proper dining place for lunch breaks and therefore workers must eat at the car parking space.
  • The drinking water that the factory owners provide to the local workers is unclean and the drinking water tank is located just 3 feet away from the toilets for the female workers. In contrast, the factory provides commercial clean drinking water bottles to the foreign staff at the workplace.

Two leaders of the factory union were arrested so far, in an attempt to crush the strike.
The factory union at Sun Apparel is part of the Federation of General Workers Myanmar (FGWM).

Sun Apparel Myanmar garment factory is located in industrial zone 5 in Hlaingthayar township in Yangon and it is operating with a workforce of more than 400. According to the data collected since January 2022, Sun Apparel is a regular supplier to the JAKO sports clothing brand based in Germany.

latest UPDATES

Workers on the ground report:

More than 200 workers resigned from the factory on 6-7 May 2024 because of the uncertainty of wage increase. Workers concerned that they might be arrested because Jako was not a buyer anymore. There are around 100 workers in the factory. New workers were dismissed if they could not finished the production target in time.

For a few weeks there was an intense exchange between JAKO, the FGWM, the factory owner as well as the ICL Working Group Asia and the Solidarity Center. In the end the factory owner and JAKO confirmed to approach the military junta and call for the release of the two arrested workers. The generated pressure was successful and the two workers were finally released in September 2023!

Following the replacement of the factory manager in August 2023, conditions generally improved. Due to the release of the two workers and the improved working conditions this particular labour struggle is considered over for now.

Sidenote: JAKO announced to seize sourcing from factories in Myanmar from April 2024 onwards.