After eight months of negotiations, factories producing for ACT brands in Myanmar have agreed on a Myanmar Freedom of Association (FoA) Guideline with IndustriALL affiliate Industrial Workers’ Federation of Myanmar (IWFM).
The Myanmare FoA Guidline aims to secure constructive relations between employers and workers. By providing workers a voice and representation, the guideline facilitates cooperation to solve workplace issues.
The guideline aims to specify and ensure the practical application of the principles of Freedom of Association under International Labour Standards, and also outlines a timetable to begin to the process of collective bargaining. Twenty-one major brands have signed a global agreement with IndustriALL Global Union to form the Action, Collaboration, Transformation (ACT). Companies including Hennes & Mauritz AB, Zara-parent Inditex SA and the owner of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, PVH Corp. have signed on to use their purchasing power to enable better working conditions and push for industry level wage agreements secured through collective bargaining.
The parties have agreed on the next steps in the process, including among other things disseminate and explain the content of the guideline to workers and management at factory level, and develop a dispute resolution procedure, as outlined in a signed letter of agreement.
