Myanmar unions: Unseat military junta’s ILO representative

In the spirit of its World Board Resolution adopted on 27 April, BWI joined the Council of Global Unions (CGU) in expressing its commitment to the Burmese trade unions’ call to unseat the military junta’s representative in the International Labour Organisation (ILO) which will be having its annual International Labour Conference (ILC) in June.

BWI made the commitment in a global webinar hosted by CGU last 12 May on the trade unions’ struggle for democracy in Myanmar. 

The online event was attended by high-level representatives from the Myanmar Unity Government (NUG), the United Nations (UN), the United States’ (US) Department of State and the European Union (EU).

The General Secretaries of the different global unions and federations were also present, as well trade union leaders and representatives from different parts of the world.

In its resolution, BWI called on trade unions to urge their respective governments to recognise Myanmar’s unity government as the sole and legitimate national governing authority of the Burmese people, and to continue to mobilise support for the country’s civil disobedience movement (CDM) by donating to the Myanmar Strike Fund. 

BWI also reiterated its call to the EU to impose comprehensive economic sanctions against the military junta and for multinational companies (MNCs) to cut their business ties with the illegitimate regime. 

Since the military’s coup that toppled Myanmar’s democratic government in February, at least 707 Burmese people, including children, have been killed and at least 3,070 people were arrested and detained.