{"id":10303,"date":"2023-05-05T12:30:28","date_gmt":"2023-05-05T10:30:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uniglobalunion.org\/?post_type=news&p=10303"},"modified":"2023-05-05T15:34:20","modified_gmt":"2023-05-05T13:34:20","slug":"uni-calls-for-fashion-brands-to-exit-myanmar","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/uniglobalunion.org\/news\/uni-calls-for-fashion-brands-to-exit-myanmar\/","title":{"rendered":"UNI calls for fashion brands to exit Myanmar\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
UNI Global Union is calling for garment and textile brands to pull manufacturing operations from Myanmar, a murderous military dictatorship where basic human rights are trampled \u2013 including the right to join a union.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n
The position was taken during UNI\u2019s Management Committee meeting on 4 May, and it is in line with calls from the Confederation of Trade Unions, Myanmar (CTUM) and our\u00a0sister global union IndustriALL<\/a>. \u00a0<\/p>\r\n In an\u00a0article this week<\/a>, representatives from IF Metall along with Swedish UNI affiliates Unionen and Handels called on H&M, the Swedish fast fashion giant, to divest from the Southeast Asian nation.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n They wrote: \u00a0<\/p>\r\n \u201cThe fashion industry is a significant source of foreign currency for Myanmar’s military regime and is used to buy weapons, energy and other goods.\u00a0This means that the industry contributes to maintaining the regime, which, among other things, controls the central bank.\u00a0Companies that continue to operate in Myanmar thus become indirect support for the military dictatorship.<\/span>\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n The Myanmar ministry of information reports that garment exports were worth US$4.7 billion last year.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n IndustriALL\u00a0notes<\/a>\u00a0that global brand<\/span>s such as\u00a0Inditex, Fast Retail, Tchibo, Primark and Marks & Spencer left or announced plans to leave<\/span>\u00a0Myanmar after the\u00a0Ethical Trading Initiative, of which H&M is a member,\u00a0<\/span>released a report last year<\/a>\u00a0saying that due diligence is not possible in a context where independent worker voices are suppressed, where unions are banned, and trade unionists are imprisoned and killed. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n UNI\u00a0<\/span>has previously pressed\u00a0banks\u00a0to divest<\/span><\/a>\u00a0from shareholdings in companies linked to the military junta in Myanmar.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>It will begin reaching out to affiliates \u2013 particularly in the commerce sector \u2013 about this new call to action.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n \u201cSince the coup two years ago, the military junta has committed\u00a0atrocity after atrocity<\/a>. Doing business in the country props up this brutal, barbaric regime, and fashion retailers cannot consider themselves \u2018responsible\u2019 or \u2018sustainable\u2019 businesses while manufacturing in the country,\u201d said\u00a0Christy Hoffman, General Secretary of UNI<\/b>.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n