Confederation of Trade Unions, Myanmar

The Confederation of Trade Unions, Myanmar (CTUM), formerly known as the Federation of Trade Unions of Burma (FTUB), is a trade union in Myanmar (Burma). As of 2018, CTUM had 65,002 members, ahead of the Agriculture and Farmers Federation of Myanmar and the Myanmar Industries Craft and Services – Trade Unions Federation.[1]

CTUM
Confederation of Trade Unions, Myanmar
မြန်မာနိုင်ငံလုံးဆိုင်ရာအလုပ်သမားသမဂ္ဂများအဖွဲ့ချုပ်
Founded1991 (1991)
Location
Members
65,002
Key people
Hla Oo, President
U Maung Maung, General Secretary
AffiliationsInternational Trade Union Confederation
Websitewww.ctummyanmar.org

History

Following the 1962 Burmese coup d'état, trade unions were suspended from 1962 to 1988.[2] During the 8888 Uprising, protesting committees demanded the right to organise trade unions without political interference.[2] In September 1998, labour activists re-formed a national trade union movement in Rangoon (present-day Yangon).[2] In 1991, the coalition of affiliated unions formed the Federation of Trade Unions of Burma (FTUB) as an underground labour movement.[2]

Until the Myanmar political reforms that began in 2011, the FTUB operated as a clandestine network.[2] In 1998, Myo Aung Thant, an FTUB executive committee member, was sentenced to life imprisonment for labour organization activities within Myanmar.[3] In 2003, three members of the FTUB, Nai Min Kyi, Yae Myint, and Naing Yatha, were sentenced to death for high treason. The International Centre for Trade Union Rights reported that: "The ostensible reasons for their sentences were that they had attended FTUB training on the Myanmar–Thailand border, were relaying information on forced labour to the International Labour Organization, and had published an article in a Burmese magazine which uncovered corruption in the national football league."[4]

In October 2011, the Labour Organisation Law was passed, establishing the right of workers to establish labour unions.[2] In March 2012, the Settlement of Labour Dispute Law was passed, establishing mechanisms to arbitrate labour disputes.[2] In 2012, FTUM leaders returned from exile to Myanmar.[5] In 2014, the union was renamed as the Confederation of Trade Unions, Myanmar (CTUM).[1] In July 2015, Myanmar's Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security officially registered CTUM as a trade union.[6]

Affiliations

The CTUM is affiliated with the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).[7] In 2016, the CTUM cited 650 affiliated unions across multiple industries.[8]

References
  1. "Myanmar Labour Market Profile 2019" (PDF). Danish Trade Union Development Agency. 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on 30 September 2020.
  2. Elias, Juanita; Rethel, Lena (18 August 2016). The Everyday Political Economy of Southeast Asia. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-12233-8.
  3. "Myanmar to allow unions". Terra Daily. 17 October 2011. Archived from the original on 10 August 2014. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
  4. ICTUR; et al., eds. (2005). Trade Unions of the World (6th ed.). London, UK: John Harper Publishing. ISBN 0-9543811-5-7.
  5. Arnold, Dennis; Campbell, Stephen (2017). "Labour Regime Transformation in Myanmar: Constitutive Processes of Contestation". Development and Change. 48 (4): 801–824. doi:10.1111/dech.12315. ISSN 1467-7660.
  6. "Historic official registration of CTUM union in Myanmar". IndustriALL. 23 July 2015. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
  7. "List of Affiliated Organisations" (PDF). International Trade Union Confederation. November 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 November 2019.
  8. Gillan, Michael; Thein, Htwe Htwe (10 March 2016). "Employment relations, the state and transitions in governance in Myanmar". Journal of Industrial Relations. 58 (2): 273–288. doi:10.1177/0022185615617570. S2CID 155294818.


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