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A man wearing face mask and face shield to help curb the spread of the new coronavirus, sews surgical gown at a garment factory in Yangon, Myanmar. Garment workers in Myanmar are urging major international brands to denounce the recent military coup there and put more pressure on factories to protect workers from being fired or harassed. Photo:AP

Explainer | Fast fashion and Myanmar – why garment workers are protesting, how brands have responded, and the unrest’s potential impact on consumers

  • Trade union activity in the apparel industry meant leaders quickly emerged to organise worker protests against the military, and Chinese factory owners
  • Garment workers and those in other sectors have staged strikes to paralyse the economy as a means of applying pressure on the generals to reverse course
Myanmar

Workers and trade union leaders from Myanmar’s garment industry have played a leading role in organising protests against the military coup that ousted the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February.

The protesters are calling for new international sanctions and for major multinational companies with factories in Myanmar to bolster protections for workers taking part in the resistance.

Security forces in the Southeast Asian country have responded to paralysing strikes – and the razing of garment factories whose Chinese owners protesters perceive to be complicit in the coup – by shooting hundreds of people. More than 200 have been killed.

Why have garment workers become so involved? Why are Chinese factories being targeted? And how will the unrest disrupt fast fashion supply chains in Asia?

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Fires set at Chinese factories in Myanmar during deadliest day of anti-coup protests

Fires set at Chinese factories in Myanmar during deadliest day of anti-coup protests

The role garment workers have played in the protests

Although still a laggard compared to other countries in the region, Myanmar’s garment industry experienced a rapid take-off after the country began opening to the outside world and shedding international sanctions a decade ago.

Factory workers hold placards as they rally against the military coup in Yangon, Myanmar, in February. Photo: Reuters

From 2012 to 2018, Myanmar’s annual textile and apparel exports jumped fivefold, from US$900 million to US$4.49 billion, according to data from the European Chamber of Commerce in Myanmar.

Today, the industry’s roughly 600 factories provide jobs for 450,000 workers, with two new factories opening every week, according to the Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association.

As the industry’s take-off reoriented the local economy, a parallel effort to unionise workers and push for higher wages and better protections forged a resilient labour network and a group of hardened union leaders experienced in direct action – which quickly proved useful against the military.

Anti-coup protesters flash a three-fingered salute, a symbol of resistance first seen in protests in Thailand and copied from The Hunger Games films, during a rally in Yangon on March 22. Photo: AP

Garment industry workers have been one of several groups to engage in civil disobedience – along with railway workers, truckers, hospital and bank staff – in an effort to put pressure on coup leaders by bringing the economy to a screeching halt. They view temporary unemployment as preferable to a future of prolonged political repression.

The workers are also pushing for multinational companies to denounce the military’s takeover and ensure workers will not be fired or punished for taking part in protests. 

Why some protesters attacked Chinese-financed factories

Chinese-financed garment factories, which have sprouted up across Myanmar as the industry has flourished, have found themselves caught up in the unrest.

Concern about China’s influence in Myanmar dates back decades, a legacy of the cosy relationship Beijing maintained with the military regime that ruled the country until 2011.

Beijing’s failure to firmly and directly condemn the February coup rekindled that concern, and spawned a wave of conspiracy theories that China was supplying, directing, or otherwise supporting the newly installed regime.

Topshop and Gap leave vulnerable fashion workers high and dry, say activists

Factories with Chinese connections became targets, as both a raw expression of anger and a tactic to turn up the heat on Beijing – although protesters have denied being behind some of the attacks. Chinese state media reported that 32 factories had been attacked by mid-March, causing an estimated US$37 million in damage.

Things came to a head on March 14, when a number of Chinese-financed factories in Hlaingthaya, a suburb of Yangon dominated by the clothing industry, were set ablaze and security forces fired on protesters. At least 38 were killed. This led to tens of thousands of workers and their families fleeing in the days that followed.

A protest sign that went viral in the lead-up to the arson attacks summed up the both the sentiment and the geopolitical calculus of the protesters: “If the blood of one Hlaingthaya resident hits the ground, one Chinese factory must burn.”

The aftermath of a fire at a Chinese-owned garment factory in Hlaingthaya, Yangon. Photo: AFP

How major fast fashion brands such as H&M are responding

Some major multinational apparel brands with a heavy presence in Myanmar have responded to the protesters’ demands, denouncing the coup and saying they would curtail their operations.

The world’s second-largest fashion retailer, Hennes & Mauritz – which has developed a network of 45 direct suppliers in Myanmar over the past seven years – announced in early March it would be suspending new orders in light of the violent actions of the security forces, and was followed quickly by Italian retailer Benetton Group.

Other brands are concerned about the consequences for their business – re-establishing supply chains elsewhere at such short notice is difficult, as will be re-entering Myanmar once the situation stabilises – and for the hundreds of thousands of workers who will be left jobless.

An H&M store in Sweden. The fast-fashion multinational has suspended new orders from its suppliers in Myanmar because of the violence. Photo: Mikael Sjoberg/Bloomberg

Brands such as C&A, Mango, Zara, and L.L. Bean have released statements condemning the coup, but have yet to take any concrete steps to curtail their economic activity in Myanmar.

How central is Myanmar to the fast fashion industry? Will supply chains be disrupted?

Myanmar’s garment industry is still a tiny player compared to the rest of East and Southeast Asia, and companies still taking orders from the country say they have backup plans to shift to other regional suppliers if necessary, limiting the unrest’s impact on trading flows.

Burned out vehicles sit in front of a charred Chinese-owned garment factory in Hlaingthaya, Yangon, following an arson attack. Photo: AFP

In 2018, Myanmar was the 11th largest exporter of garments in the region, according to data from the International Labour Organisation, with most going to Europe, Japan and South Korea.

The country’s share of global garment exports – less than 1 per cent – lagged well behind the roughly 6 per cent of both Bangladesh and Vietnam, and also trailed India, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Cambodia.

Some 5.5 per cent of Myanmar’s exports go to the United States. But Myanmar’s share of the sourcing network for US and European fashion companies is minimal, at less than 0.1 per cent, according to the Associated Press.


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