6 February, 2025The military regime in Myanmar is actively orchestrating a dangerous and unacceptable attack on independent trade unions. The state administration council (SAC) has created a parallel and illegitimate trade union structure to undermine the legitimate trade union movement.
IndustriALL has been informed its affiliate the Industrial Workers’ Federation of Myanmar (IWFM), who is a member of the Confederation of Trade Unions Myanmar (CTUM), that the SAC is promoting the Myanmar Labour Confederation (MLC), a state-backed body designed to replace independent unions like CTUM and IWFM.
The SAC launched the MLC in 2023, when its deputy minister of labour summoned workers in the Hlaing Tharyar industrial zone and instructed them to replace CTUM’s leadership. Since then, evidence has shown that the MLC has closely collaborated with the SAC’s ministry of labour (MOL), misrepresenting itself as CTUM to workers, employers and international stakeholders. These actions reveal the regime’s strategy to dismantle independent unions by using state control over the ministry of labour to elevate its own entity.
The SAC escalated its interference in January, this year, when the MLC organized an event falsely presented as a union education workshop. In reality, it served as a platform to install pro-SAC leadership within IWFM, conducted under heavy surveillance by police and special branch officers. This heavy-handed security presence demonstrated the SAC’s direct involvement in suppressing workers’ right to organize and associate freely, without fear of state intervention.
This state-backed assault on trade unions violates international labour standards, including the fundamental principles of Freedom of Association (Convention No. 87) and the Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining (Convention No. 98). Instead of adhering to the Commission of Inquiry (COI)’s recommendations, the SAC is intensifying its efforts to dismantle independent trade unions, replacing them with state-controlled entities that undermine workers’ rights.
The SAC’s actions directly contradict the COI’s findings, which condemned the military’s role in undermining trade unions through intimidation and interference. The COI report (paragraphs 173 and 174) highlighted the military’s systematic crackdown on union activities, and the recent developments confirm these concerns. The regime’s false claims about CTUM’s status, particularly its attempts to force re-election of CTUM’s leadership under SAC supervision, demonstrate the military’s strategy to fracture and control Myanmar’s union movement.
CTUM has also reported that the SAC has illegally appropriated the flags of CTUM and other independent unions, including IWFM, to promote yellow unions- state-controlled entities meant to weaken opposition to the junta. The theft of union symbols reveals the SAC’s ongoing campaign to strip workers of their rights and control the union movement.
IndustriALL Global Union has sent a letter to the ILO requesting that these developments be discussed under agenda item 12 of the 353rd Governing Body Session, regarding Myanmar's non-compliance with Conventions Nos 87 and 29 and related resolutions from the 102nd (2013) and 109th (2021) International Labour Conference sessions. IndustriALL Global and industriAll European Trade Union will jointly send a letter to the EU, urging condemnation of the attack and immediate action.
IndustriALL general secretary, Atle Høie, says:
“The situation in Myanmar demands urgent international action. The creation of the MLC represents a direct attack on workers’ rights and independent trade unionism in the country. The international community must hold the SAC accountable and demand the restoration of genuine freedom of association and the right to organize for Myanmar’s workers. International brands and investors who continue to operate in Myanmar must finally open their eyes and leave the country.”