Myanmar’s Labor Movement Remains Defiant

On International Workers’ Day 2025, amid brutal repression and persecution of independent labor unions, activists, and workers who take any form of collective action, Myanmar’s labor movement continues to state their demands for fair pay, the freedom to unionize, the release of imprisoned workers, and an end to forced military conscription. Their commitment to join the resistance movement in building a better future for all is stronger than ever.

In a May Day speech in Naypyidaw, junta chief Min Aung Hlaing urged Myanmar’s workers to find jobs at home to fill the widespread labor shortage, rather than migrating overseas to work. He cited, apparently without irony, “creating job opportunities within the country where there is a safer and more secure living environment.” Yet for those who are part of the dwindling national workforce, conditions are historically bad. Unions have been targeted and their leaders imprisoned. Meanwhile, workers who make demands for safer working conditions, attempt to form a union, or demand they are paid the legal minimum wage face dismissal, threats, or even violent retaliation from hired thugs as employers take advantage of the junta labor ministry’s complete lack of legal protection of workers.

Since February 2024, the junta’s forced conscription campaign means that workers are afraid of being forcibly recruited at their workplace or elsewhere. They are also particularly vulnerable to junta recruiters if they are forced to work overtime and travel home after dark. Forced conscription has led to a mass migration abroad, even as the junta tries to stem this movement. Furthermore, factory jobs simply do not pay a living wage due to the junta’s catastrophic handling of the economy that has led to high inflation and scarcity of essentials, while wages remain relatively low. If wages cannot afford basic living costs, and there is a significant risk of being forcibly drafted to fight for the illegitimate military and be sent to the frontlines for its losing war, it is no wonder that the potential workers are either trying to flee abroad, finding refuge in liberated areas, or staying in their rural homes.

However for migrant workers overseas, many of whom without choices but to cross borders unofficially, their lack of status and formal protection means that they are vulnerable to exploitation from unscrupulous bosses. Added to this, the cash-strapped junta has employed various means to extract as much income from the working diaspora as possible. Thus, when remittances are sent back to Myanmar, at least 25% of foreign earnings must be sent back through junta-run banks, which is exchanged at a rate significantly under market value—with the junta keeping the difference. Threats to not renew their passports or overseas worker identity cards, as well as travel bans, are used to enforce this measure. Furthermore, examples abound of undocumented migrant workers being forcibly returned to Myanmar, taken into custody and then being forced to fight for the junta.

It must not be forgotten that workers in Yangon’s industrial zones were one of the first sectors of society to rise up and resist the Myanmar military’s illegal coup attempt in February 2021, while many labor organizations were targeted with persecution by junta soldiers. Many of these striking workers came from female-dominated industries such as the garment sector. They were also some of the fiercest and most courageous protesters, and were subject to one of the earliest instances of post-coup attempt mass violence at the hands of the junta, with at least 65 demonstrators trapped and shot to death on 14 March 2021 in the working-class area of Hlaing Thar Yar in Yangon.

This is not to say that labor rights were guaranteed prior to the 2021 coup attempt. Indeed, during the ‘transition period’ an economic policy of market reforms and liberalization was underpinned by exploitation of labor to ensure cheap exports from which an elite class benefited. However, there was a degree of civic space to make incremental gains for workers, and various components of an active and dynamic labor movement had some relative success. This included a minimum wage, two labor laws that established the right to form unions and a framework to arbitrate disputes, as well as some international brands being forced to engage and take seriously the legitimate grievances of workers.

However, any fledgling progress is a bygone memory as long as the military junta desperately clings on to its attempt to rule. At the moment, working conditions and labor rights violations in Myanmar may be some of the worst in the world. Many factories and brands are taking advantage of this dire situation, perpetrating labor rights abuses with impunity to drive down their operating costs.

The fundamental change that must happen for workers is for the junta to fall. As stated by the Myanmar Labor Alliance, “As long as the military interferes, workers will never achieve a stable economy, a just social system, or political peace. Their rights will remain denied, and their lives reduced to wartime sacrifices.” In the immediate period then, the onus is on the factory owners, employers, brands, and buyers to listen to workers’ grievances, and adhere to international standards on business practices including the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct. Such grievances were articulated by the Federation of Garment Workers Myanmar, which called on factory owners to pay a decent minimum wage, to ensure workplace safety, end forced labor including compulsory overtime, provide free sanitary pads for female workers, and end the formation of employer-allied unions. Furthermore, for Myanmar migrant workers, host governments must do more to stop deportation or returns to Myanmar, provide protected legal status for Myanmar people, as well as ensure legal and accessible pathways for entry into the workforce. Myanmar people already suffer the lack of human security in Myanmar by the illegal junta’s relentless violence, host countries must therefore take action in line with the principle of do no harm.

Nevertheless, the fall of the junta is just the first step. Reverting to the pre-coup attempt economic model is not a path toward economic justice and equality. A future Myanmar must be remade which does not repeat the previous situation where the interests of a small, business elite are prioritized over the millions of workers that produce the wealth of the country. The revolution is a time for ambition, a chance for genuine change, and an opportunity to support the working class, to build a more equal society, and ensure that democracy extends not just to individual voting rights, but to the workplace. As a joint statement by anti-junta civil society organizations demands, “We emphatically emphasize that the role of the working class is critical in ensuring future societal progress—economic development, social security, the end of oppression, conflict resolution, and a robust democracy. Their inclusion in these efforts is non-negotiable.”

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[1] One year following the 1988 pro-democracy uprising, the former military junta changed the country’s name from Burma to Myanmar overnight. Progressive Voice uses the term ‘Myanmar’ in acknowledgement that most people of the country use this term. However, the deception of inclusiveness and the historical process of coercion by the former State Peace and Development Council military regime into usage of ‘Myanmar’ rather than ‘Burma’ without the consent of the people is recognized and not forgotten. Thus, under certain circumstances, ‘Burma’ is used.

Progressive Voice is a participatory, rights-based policy research and advocacy organization that was born out of Burma Partnership. Burma Partnership officially ended its work on October 10, 2016 transitioning to a rights-based policy research and advocacy organization called Progressive Voice. For further information, please see our press release “Burma Partnership Celebrates Continuing Regional Solidarity for Burma and Embraces the Work Ahead for Progressive Voice.”