ACT: freedom of association guideline adopted by Myanmar textiles industry

On 13 November 2019, after eight months of negotiations, and along with the IndustriALL affiliate, Industrial Workers’ Federation of Myanmar (IWFM), garment and textiles factories in Myanmar, which produce for some twenty brands that are members of the Action, Collaboration, Transformation (ACT) agreement that aims to develop sector based collective bargaining within the large garment producing countries, adopted the Myanmar Freedom of Association (FoA) Guideline. In addition to international guidelines on freedom of association, the guideline document includes precise commitments on meetings, types of cooperation and union representatives rights, which aim to facilitate and foster the exercise of trade union freedom among subcontractors and which should feature in the purchasing procedures of ACT brand members.