The Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association (MGMA) has announced that it will continue to cooperate with employers, workers and government representatives, including the International Labour Organization (ILO), in order to improve the development of employer-worker relations in line with the recommendations of Article 33 of the ILO.
The ILO decided at its 113th International Labour Conference held from June 2 to June 15 to monitor Myanmar’s implementation of Article 33 of the ILO Constitution. The decision is deeply regrettable for Myanmar’s CMP sector, which relies on a large number of workers, said MGMA. Myanmar’s CMP sector includes garment, bag, shoe and electrical equipment manufacturing and they operate on a cutting, making and packaging (CMP) basis.
The CMP factories employ around 700,000 workers and around twice that number are employed in related industries.
In the Myanmar CMP garment sector, MGMA has 523 member factories, 60 per cent of which export to the European market, 20 per cent to the Japanese market and 20 per cent to other markets.
Therefore, factories in the CMP sector, which employ a large number of workers, must comply with Continuous Improvement Monitoring Program for the Code of Conduct set by MGMA , the statement said. The International Labour Organization (ILO) announced at its conference on June 5 that it would impose a total ban on Myanmar under Article 33 of its constitution.