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Abstract
Networks of trade union activists working as part of the global union movement have played a central role in political change in Myanmar. In response to trade union advocacy, compliance with International Labour Organization (ILO) standards was made a key condition for the lifting of sanctions on Myanmar, leading the current civilian government to pass revised labour laws allowing the formation of independent trade unions. Union activists have taken advantage of this new freedom, with a rapid growth in registration of local union organizations since 2011. Based on recent fieldwork in Myanmar, including interviews with union leaders and ILO officials, this paper presents an empirical analysis of political relationships formed by local and international union organizations in the context of multi-level political change. In this case study of translating international norms into domestic political change, local and international trade union networks are shown to have a significant impact on achieving compliance with international labour standards.
ORCID
Nicholas Henry http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0207-2588
Acknowledgements
My thanks are due to the many organizations and individuals who assisted me in my research. In particular I would like to acknowledge the assistance of the ILO Liaison office in Myanmar including Liaison Officer Steve Marshall and former Chief Technical Advisor Ross Wilson, ITUC Myanmar Office Director Shigeru Nakajima, the Federation of Trade Unions of Myanmar (FTUM) including General Secretary U Maung Maung, the FTUM-affiliated Agriculture and Farmers’ Federation of Myanmar (AFFM) including President U Than Shwe, the Myanmar Trade Union Federation (MTUF) including spokesperson Dr Sai Khaing Myo Tun, the independent Agriculture and Farmers Federation of Myanmar (AFFM) including President Daw Than Than Htay and General Secretary U Zarni Thwe, Action Labour Rights (ALR), and Labour Rights Defenders and Promoters (LRDP). Interviews were conducted with approval from Deakin University Human Ethics Advisory Group (HEAG). Reference no. 131111-Henry.
Notes on contributor
Nicholas Henry is a lecturer in International Relations at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia. His research centres on the agency of non-state actors in international politics, with a particular focus on community-based organizations from Myanmar.
Notes
1 Myanmar was known as Burma until 1989 when the military regime in effective control of the country announced the change of name. Although the change was recognized by the United Nations, opposition groups and some governments continued to use the old name to protest against the illegitimacy of the military regime. Following the change of government in 2011 and subsequent reforms, the controversy has become less relevant and the name Myanmar is now used by most in the country, including trade union activists.
2 Weifeng Zhou and Ludo Cuyvers, ‘Linking International Trade and Labour Standards: The Effectiveness of Sanctions under the European Union's GSP’, Journal of World Trade 45, no. 1 (2011): 63–85.
3 Kyaw Yin Hlaing, ‘Associational Life in Myanmar: Past and Present', in Myanmar: State, Society and Ethnicity, ed. N Ganesan and Kyaw Yin Hlaing (Singapore: Institute of South East Asian Studies, 2007), 143–71; Aung San Suu Kyi, Freedom From Fear (London: Penguin, 2010).
4 Daw Eai Shwe Sinn Nyunt (Action Labour Rights founder), interview with the author, Yangon, January 2014.
5 Si Thu Lwin, ‘Martyrs of 1300 Revolution to be Honoured’, Myanmar Times, February 2, 2014, www.mmtimes.com/index.php/national-news/9413-martyrs-of-1300-revolution-to-be-honoured-this-month.html.
6 John Seabury Thomson, ‘Marxism in Burma', in Marxism in Southeast Asia: A Study of Four Countries, ed. Frank N. Trager (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1959), 25–6; Stephen Campbell, introduction to The Strike War by Po Hla Gyi, ed. Hans-Bernd Zöllner, trans. Stephen Campbell, Passauer Beiträge zur Südostasienkunde Working Paper No. 10:11.1 (Druck: Universität Passau, 2012), 5–6.
7 John Badgley, ‘Burma's Political Crisis', Pacific Affairs 31, no. 4 (1958), 336–51.
8 Bertil Lintner, Outrage: Burma's Struggle for Democracy (London: White Lotus, 1990), 28.
9 FTUB organizer, interview with the author, Mae Sot, 2006. Anonymity requested.
10 U Maung Maung (General Secretary, FTUB/M), interviews with the author, Yangon, January 2014 and Bangkok, 2006.
11 John S. Ahlquist, Amanda B. Clayton, and Margaret Levi, ‘Provoking Preferences: Unionization, Trade Policy, and the ILWU Puzzle’, International Organization 68, no. 1 (2014): 33–75.
12 Tanya Das Gupta, ‘Racism/Anti-Racism, Precarious Employment, and Unions', in Daily Struggles: The Deepening Racialization and Feminization of Poverty in Canada, ed. Siu-ming Kwok and Maria A. Wallis (Toronto: Canadian Scholars' Press, 2008), 143–57; Mary Margaret Furnow, Suzanne Franzway, and Valentine M. Moghadam, ‘Introduction: Globalization and Women's Social Rights', in Making Globalization Work for Women: The Role of Social Rights and Trade Union Leadership, ed. Valentine M. Moghadam, Mary Margaret Fonow, and Suzanne Franzway (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2011); Sue Ledwith and Fiona Colgan, ‘Tackling Gender, Diversity and Trade Union Democracy: A Worldwide Project?’, in Gender, Diversity and Trade Unions: International Perspectives (Abingdon: Routledge, 2007), 1–27.
13 Peter Waterman and Jill Timms, ‘Trade Union Internationalism and a Global Civil Society in the Making', in Global Civil Society 2004–5, ed. Helmut Anheier, Marlies Glasius, and Mary Kaldor (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2005), 175–202; Jane Wills, ‘Bargaining for the Space to Organize in the Global Economy: A Review of the Accor–IUF Trade Union Rights Agreement’, Review of International Political Economy 9, no. 4 (2002): 675–700.
14 Robert W. Cox, ‘Labor and Transnational Relations', International Organization 25 no. 3 (1971): 554–84.
15 Verta Taylor, ‘Social Movement Continuity: The Women's Movement in Abeyance’, American Sociological Review 54, no. 5 (1989): 761–75.
16 Zhou and Cuyvers, ‘Linking International Trade and Labour Standards', 64.
17 U Maung Maung, interviews, 2006 and 2014.
18 Lars Thomann, Steps to Compliance with International Labour Standards: The International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Abolition of Forced Labour (Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien, 2011), 83–5; Richard Horsey, Ending Forced Labour in Myanmar: Engaging a Pariah Regime (Abingdon: Routledge, 2011), 5–31.
19 European Commission, ‘Proposal for a Council Regulation (EC) Temporarily Withdrawing Access to Generalized Tariff Preferences for Industrial Goods from the Union of Myanmar', COM/96/0711 – ACC 96/0317 (Brussels: European Commission, 1996), http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:51996PC0711.
20 Jaideep Singh, ‘Courting Responsibility’, Mother Jones, February 10, 2004, http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2004/02/courting-responsibility.
21 International Labour Organization (ILO), ‘Developments Concerning the Question of the Observance by the Government of Myanmar of the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29)’, GB.292/7/1 (Geneva: International Labour Organization, 2005), http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/relm/gb/docs/gb292/pdf/gb-7-1.pdf.
22 European Commission, ‘Report from the Commission to the Council pursuant to Article 2 of Council Regulation (EC) No 552/97 with Respect to the Forced Labour in Myanmar/Burma', COM/2012/0525 (Brussels: European Commission, 2012), http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52012DC0525.
23 Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG), ‘Surviving in Shadow: Widespread Militarization and the Systematic Use of Forced Labour in the Campaign for Control of Thaton District’ (Karen Human Rights Group, 2006), http://www.khrg.org/2006/01/khrg0601j/surviving-shadow-widespread-militarization-and-systematic-use-forced-labour.
24 Marcia Poole, ‘Myanmar Turns a Corner’, World of Work: Magazine of the ILO (Geneva: Department of Communication and Public Information of the ILO, 2013), 19–31, http://www.ilo.org/global/publications/magazines-and-journals/world-of-work-magazine/issues/WCMS_216068/lang--en/index.htm.
25 FTUB organizer, interview, 2006.
26 U Maung Maung, interview, 2006.
27 Yun Sun, ‘New Balance in China, Myanmar Ties', Asia Times Online, October 13, 2011, http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/MJ13Ae02.html; Daniel Ten Kate, ‘Myanmar Seeks “Win–Win–Win” in Balancing U.S.–China Competition’, December 5, 2011, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-04/myanmar-seeks-win-win-win-in-balancing-u-s-china-competition.html; Helen James, ‘Myanmar's International Relations Strategy: The Search for Security’, Contemporary Southeast Asia 26, no. 3 (2004): 530–53.
28 Roger Lee Huang, ‘Re-thinking Myanmar's political Regime: Military Rule in Myanmar and Implications for Current Reforms', Contemporary Politics 19, no. 3 (2013): 247–61.
29 Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, ‘The Labour Organization Law’, Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Law 7, October 11, 2011, http://www.mol.gov.mm/en/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2012/05/Labour-Org-Law-ENG.pdf; Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, ‘The Settlement of Labour Dispute Law’, Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Law 5, March 28, 2012, http://www.mol.gov.mm/en/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2012/06/Settlement-dispute-lawEng.pdf; Myanmar's bicameral parliament, the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, is divided into a lower house, the Pyithu Hluttaw, and an upper house, the Amyotha Hluttaw.
30 Steve Marshall (ILO Liaison Officer for Myanmar), interview with author, Yangon, January 2014.
31 Federation of Trade Unions of Burma (FTUB), ‘International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) Delegation Visits Burma’ (FTUB, 2012), http://federationoftradeunionsburma.blogspot.com.au.
32 International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), ‘Burma Sanctions Benchmarks' (Brussels: International Trade Union Confederation, 2012), http://www.ituc-csi.org/burma-sanctions-benchmarks.
33 ILO, ‘Additional Agenda Item, Report of the Officers of the Governing Body’, PR No. 2-2 (Geneva: International Labour Organization, 2012), http://www.ilo.org/ilc/ILCSessions/101stSession/reports/provisional-records/WCMS_181314/lang--en/index.htm.
34 U Maung Maung, interview, 2014.
35 Steve Marshall, interview.
36 Shigeru Nakajima (Director, ITUC Myanmar Office), interview with author, Yangon, January 2014.
37 U Zarni Thwe (General Secretary, AFFM), interview with author, Yangon, January 2014.
38 U Zarni Thwe, Daw Than Than Htay, U Than Shwe, Shigeru Nakajima, interviews.
39 AFFM, ‘AFFM Releases Public Statement: We are an Independent Organization’, October 30, 2012, http://www.aff-m.org/eng/index.php/all-news/agriculture-farmer-news/item/31-affm-releases-public-statement-we-are-an-independent-organization. When the AFFM split from the FTUM, Daw Than Than Htay replaced U Than Shwe as President of the organization.
40 U Zarni Thwe, interview; Dr Sai Khaing Myo Tun (General Secretary, MTUF), interview with author, Yangon, January 2014.
41 Dr Sai Khaing Myo Tun, interview.
42 ILO, ‘ILO Liaison Officer's Speech at the MTUF (Myanmar Trade Union Federation) Conference’ (Geneva: International Labour Organization, 2014), http://www.ilo.org/yangon/info/public/WCMS_243282/lang--en/index.htm.
43 The decision was protested by the ITUC, claiming that a representative of the FTUM should have been chosen; ILO, ‘Reports on Credentials: Second Report of the Credentials Committee’, Provisional Record 5C 103rd Session May–June 2014 (Geneva: International Labour Organization, 2014), http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/---relconf/documents/meetingdocument/wcms_246579.pdf.
44 Education International, ‘Myanmar: EI Leads Exploratory Mission’ (Education International, 2014), http://www.ei-ie.org/en/news/news_details/3149.
45 U Saw Naing (Deputy Director-General, Ministry of Labour), speech to ‘Industrial Relations, Productivity and Labour Management Cooperation’ conference, Kanaung Hall, Hlaingthaya, January 17, 2014; communication from ILO Liaison Office in Myanmar, November 2013; see also IndustriALL, ‘Building Strong Unions in Myanmar’ (IndustriALL, October 29, 2014), http://www.industriall-union.org/building-strong-unions-in-myanmar. Figures provided by Myanmar's government to the ILO in May 2014 recognized a combined total membership of 35,431 workers in 389 unions affiliated to the AFFM and MTUF, in addition to 30,300 members in 377 unions affiliated to the FTUM; ILO, ‘Reports on Credentials: Second Report of the Credentials Committee’.
46 U Maung Maung, interview with the author, December 2013; Naga Labour Union organizers, interview with the author, January 2014. Anonymity requested. By October 2014, the FTUM claimed 43,500 members in 622 registered unions (IndustriALL, 2014).
47 Daw Than Than Htay and U Zarni Thwe, interview with author, January 2014. For more on relations between armed and non-armed organizations in Myanmar, including trade unions, see Nicholas Henry, ‘Civil Society amid Civil War: Political Violence and Non-violence in the Burmese Democracy Movement’, Global Society 25, no. 1 (2011): 97–111. Membership figures provided by AFFM claimed 37,000 members in January 2014, which includes a substantial number of unions whose registration had not yet been approved by government and so are not included in official figures cited in note 45 above.
48 Daw Than Than Htay and U Zarni Thwe, interview. For more on the KWO's role in facilitating women's participation in local politics and governance, see Nicholas Henry, ‘A Place on the Platform: The Participation of Women in Karen Community Organizations', in Journeys from Exclusion to Inclusion: Marginalized Women's Successes in Overcoming Political Exclusion, ed. Julian Smith (Stockholm: International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, 2013), 266–93, http://www.idea.int/publications/from-exclusion-to-inclusion/.
49 See for example Pippa Norris, ‘Choosing Electoral Systems: Proportional, Majoritarian and Mixed Systems', International Political Science Review 18 (1997): 301–2.
50 U Zarni Thwe, interview.
51 Steve Marshall, interview.
52 Three elected officials of village-level farmers' unions affiliated with the AFFM-FTUM, interview with author, Khayan township, Yangon Region, January 2014. Anonymity requested.
53 Shigeru Nakajima, interview.
54 Shigeru Nakajima, interview.
55 Marla Bu and Kyi Naing, ‘Highlights of Myanmar's New Law on Minimum Wages' (Yangon: VDB Loi, 2013), http://www.vdb-loi.com/vdb/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Myanmar's-New-Law-on-Minimum-Wages_(VDB%20Loi%20Analysis)_30Apr13.pdf.
56 Steve Marshall, interview.
57 U Zarni Thwe, interview.
58 Daw Than Than Htay, interview.
59 Dr Sai Khaing Myo Tun, interview.
60 Lun Min and Kayleigh Long, ‘Students Protest Education Law as Obama Pays Historic Visit’, Myanmar Times, November 14, 2014, http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/national-news/12264-students-protest-education-law-as-obama-pays-historic-visit.html.