IWFM Response to EuroCham Myanmar Garment Advocacy Group Statement on Minimum Wage
1st May 2025
As the Industrial Workers Federation of Myanmar (IWFM), representing thousands of workers in Myanmar’s industrial sector including the textile and garment industry, we acknowledge and cautiously welcome the recent statement from the EuroCham Myanmar Garment Advocacy Group expressing concern over Myanmar’s stagnant minimum wage and its consequences on workers’ livelihoods. While the statement comes rather late after more than four years of consistent complaints and advocacy from workers and unions. It nevertheless signifies a long-overdue recognition by some brands and business actors that wages in Myanmar have remained frozen since 2018, and are now dangerously below regional standards and subsistence levels.
We agree with EuroCham’s acknowledgement that the “inadequate minimum wage drives low wages, fuelling workplace disputes, high turnover, labour migration, and the loss of specialized skills,” and that this reality “presents a significant reputational risk for brands sourcing from Myanmar.” These points echo what IWFM and others have repeatedly reported since the military coup: Myanmar’s workers are being pushed into increasingly exploitative conditions that cannot be ignored.
However, we note with concern that the EuroCham statement, while recognizing the problem, fails to address several urgent and interconnected factors that continue to degrade working and living conditions in the sector. These include:
o Long working hours and unpaid compulsory overtime, often resulting in workers being forced to sleep in the factory.
o Widespread harassment, both within workplaces and during commutes, particularly affecting female workers.
o Fear of forced conscription, which has caused thousands, especially young women to quit their jobs and flee.
o An overall climate of fear, repression, and lawlessness, imposed by the military junta, which continues to arrest, harass, and violate the rights of workers and trade unionists with impunity.
These issues make clear that without political change, meaningful progress for workers is virtually impossible.
The statement’s call for a significant increase in the legal minimum wage, while commendable in principle, raises serious practical questions. It is unclear how such a wage adjustment could be realistically achieved under the current conditions of widespread repression and a collapsed rule of law. In most industrial zones where garment factories are located, the SAC has imposed martial law, and there have been multiple incidents in which factory owners have called in the military / SAC security forces to suppress labour strikes or even small worker gatherings aimed at negotiating wage increases. As IWFM has noted repeatedly, most wage negotiations, particularly in Chinese-owned factories, have yielded no real progress, precisely because of these oppressive conditions and the absence of a legitimate government or functioning institutions. The military junta (SAC) does not represent a credible or trustworthy partner in wage-setting processes, and its actions have actively undermined the possibility of fair and peaceful labour dialogue.
Moreover, it is important to recall that when international garment investors including those from Europe, first entered Myanmar, they agreed, in good faith, to voluntarily pay interim wages above market levels. This historical precedent clearly shows that companies can act independently to improve wages without waiting for a government decree.
Today, EuroCham and its members can do the same.
If investors and brands are committed to staying in Myanmar, despite the absence of a legitimate government, they must not use this very absence as an excuse to delay action. Brands have the ability and the responsibility to raise wages voluntarily, especially when they themselves admit that workers are in hardship. Waiting for a “legitimate government” to be restored before acting on wages may be interpreted as a convenient justification to maintain the status quo of exploitation or hoping that a terrorist junta that bombs defenseless citizens on a daily basis will decide to increase the minimum wage is a pious illusion. Both hypotheses contradict the spirit of the EuroCham statement, which acknowledges the suffering of workers and the reputational risks to brands.
In this context, conducting genuine due diligence remains impossible. The situation under military rule prevents open worker representation, suppresses grievances, and conceals abuses. This reality exposes all brands sourcing from Myanmar to significant and growing business and human rights risks.
We also note with disappointment that EuroCham’s statement lacks transparency, as it does not clarify how many brands support it or how they intend to coordinate action. While some companies may be taking individual steps to adjust pricing or overtime calculations, a sector-wide commitment to living wages, decent work, and worker rights protections is still missing.
We therefore urge EuroCham and its member brands to:
a) Publicly disclose which companies support the statement and their current wage practices;
b) Immediately ensure that all suppliers pay overtime based on the adjusted daily rate of 6,800 MMK as a bare minimum.
c) Establish a voluntary living wage benchmark across all factories in Myanmar, and publish the benchmark and its effective implementation status.
d) Acknowledge the reality that independent trade unions in Myanmar are unable to operate openly or safely due to systemic repression and zero civil liberty space.
e) Any suggestion that engagement with unions is currently possible or meaningful risks legitimizing the illusion that freedom of association exists in Myanmar. We caution EuroCham and its members not to claim engagement with trade unions as a sign of progress or due diligence, as such interactions—if they occur—are often constrained, monitored, and potentially dangerous for union members. Rather than being used as proof of compliance, this situation should be treated as further evidence of the untenable conditions for responsible business conduct under the military junta.
f) Support a strong and unambiguous resolution at the ILO International Labour Conference in June, grounded in Article 33 of the ILO Constitution, to hold the military junta accountable for ongoing violations of fundamental workers' rights.
An ambiguous ILO Resolution that relies on vague incentives or threats will do little to protect workers who need strong safeguards and intervention most. Only through coordinated, principled, and decisive action against the junta and genuine respect for the voices of workers can meaningful and lasting improvements in Myanmar’s garment sector be achieved.
Ambiguity and delay will only prolong the suffering of workers and deepen the reputational risks for global brands.
In conclusion, IWFM stands ready to engage in meaningful dialogue with all brands and stakeholders that demonstrate a real commitment to justice, dignity, and human rights for Myanmar’s workforce.
Contact:
Khaing Zar Aung
President
IWFM
https://www.facebook.com/IndustrialWorkersFederationOfMyanmar.IWFM