Ecotextile electronic newspaper reported that union leaders are worried that due to the closure of factories due to the political crisis and the new crown epidemic, 200,000 garment workers in Myanmar may be unemployed by the end of 2021. Nay Lin Aung, assistant secretary of the Myanmar Federation of Trade Unions, said that more than 100,000 garment workers have lost their jobs, and by the end of 2021, the number of unemployed people may increase by another 200,000. Several brands, including Danish retailer Bestseller, have begun to withdraw from Myanmar after the global trade union IndustriALL urged foreign companies to withdraw from Myanmar due to the worsening political situation. The Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) also urges brands and retailers that source products from Myanmar to prioritize re-evaluating their operations in Myanmar.
At the same time, the Delta mutant strain has hit Myanmar. The Industrial Workers Federation of Myanmar (IWFM), which is affiliated with IndustriALL, said that since the military took over the power, Readymade garment manufacturers are flouting the hygiene rules imposed by the previous government. Local union leaders said some factories have stopped paying regular wages and instead only pay workers for the shifts they can complete, significantly reducing the income of vulnerable employees. The International Labor Organization earlier estimated job losses among garment industry workers at 250,000, with the equivalent of 2.2 million job losses across all industries since February.
Statistics released by the Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association (MGMA) show that more than one-third of Myanmar’s garment factories, 252 of 742, are currently closed. However, Christina Hajagos-Clausen, director of textiles and garments at IndustriALL, said that it is difficult to obtain precise and comprehensive data on the impact of the industry in Myanmar. It is now difficult to get reliable information from abroad and it is believed that we will see more factory closures.
