Myanmar labour movement’s economic and political challenges to the military junta
After shortly describing the political reasons at the basis of the military coup of February
1st 2021, and the international dynamics that facilitated it, the paper will analyze the crucial
role of women, youth and labour organizations in the construction of the Civil Disobedience
Movement, the role of the general strikes of the first months; the role of public service,
university school professors, teachers, doctors, railway and energy workers and other staff;
the widespread internal boycotting campaign of products from factories linked to the junta
with the aim of paralyzing the economy and strangling the junta power; the role of trade,
economic and political restrictive measures decided by some governments and the EU, and
the obstacles behind similar decisions at the UN ole; The elaboration of the labour movement
strategies toward the definition of a new federal democratic Constitution; The reasons
behind the Labour Alliance and other 183 organizations request for Comprehensive
Economic Sanctions. That should include the financial, insurance and reinsurance sectors,
the garment supply chain, and the impossible negotiations to save jobs and decent working
conditions. The role of the CDM to support the NUG request for their recognition, and for
the SAC credential withdrawal, starting from the WHO, the ILO the FAO and finally at the
UN, and the consequent refusal of the SAC and of its proposal for new elections in 2023.