He added that H&M was “extremely concerned about the situation in the country”.
The company’s action followed a statement last month from H&M, Inditex, Bestseller and Primark that emphasized that they were paying attention to events and affirmed their commitment to democratic standards. The brands are all signatories to ACT, or Action, Collaboration, Transformation, an intermediary agreement between the brands and the global union IndustriALL. The aim is to ensure that workers who use collective bargaining and freedom of association can negotiate decent wages.
This week, alongside public officials, doctors and bankers, as well as teachers, Ms. Moe Sandar Myint and other union leaders continued calls for an extended national strike that would paralyze Myanmar’s economy and send a message to generals who had taken over the country at gunpoint.
Ma Tin Tin Wei, 26, makes men’s jackets for the Italian brand OVS and other brands. A clothing worker for five years and a union leader for four, she organized a strike on the floor of her factory after the coup in which workers wore white blouses and red ribbons and sang famous songs and historical hymns (a move permitted by the factory administration) . She worked just six days in February, spending most of her time sending letters to embassies, thinking about social media campaigns and preparing for strikes.
“If there were rights violations in factories before, under a military regime there is no doubt that things will be even worse for workers in the garment sector with low-paid jobs,” she said. “This is a fight that I must face. We cannot accept this, even if it means the risk of imprisonment or death. It is for me, my family, my union colleagues and all the people of Myanmar. “
A recent study suggests that the number of people earning less than $ 1.90 a day in Myanmar has more than tripled, for 63% of the population, since the beginning of the pandemic. Now, after a year of stoppages, layoffs, pay cuts and union repression induced by Covid-19, tens of thousands of clothing workers have been driven into civil disobedience in recent weeks, while the coup threatens both their freedom and the industry.
Factory owners, however, are torn between allowing workers to participate in rallies and facing the ire of the police for allowing this. Many also fear a possible reintroduction of sanctions and that growing instability will alienate valuable international brands. But several of the garment union leaders said they were prepared to make all the necessary sacrifices – including mass layoffs as a result of possible sanctions – to defeat the military dictatorship.