Yangon (ILO News) - Over half million people are employed in Myanmar’s booming garment, textile and footwear (GTF) industry. This sector, whose workers are 90% women, offers formal jobs in a country where informality is rife.

While there is an increasing consciousness emerging in Myanmar around the importance of good industrial relations and dialogue between workers and employers as key factors for the industry’s success, often that does not translate into the factory floor practices.

The ILO Garment Industry Project (ILO-GIP) has teamed up with a number of garment factories in Yangon to promote positive and sound industrial relations at the workplace level, and to build confidence between workers and employers through good HR practices.

Between August and October 2018, more than fifty HR managers, officers and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) managers from fifteen garment factories have participated in a 3-day training on the implementation of effective HR systems and practices. Five more factories will participate in the third edition of the same training set for January 2019.

“One of the main objectives of this training is to let HR managers and the factory management as a whole understand the importance of putting in place fair recruitment procedures and their ethical obligation to respect fundamental principles and rights at work”, said Aye Thet Oo, National Project Coordinator of the ILO-GIP project . “This kind of events represent also a great opportunity to sensitize factories’ HR managers on the Myanmar labour law and its application”.

Through group exercises, participants compared their existing HR policies and worked together to create new ones which encompassed fundamental principles such as non-discrimination, and the prevention of child labour and forced labour, and freedom of association.

Effective HR management procedures, such as putting together a comprehensive induction package for new recruits, with clear indications on lines of communication between workers and employers, not only avoid frequent rates of turn-over and absenteeism, but also contributes to prevent disputes and grievances, while creating an inclusive workplace culture.

Participants were also made aware of the code of conduct of the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI), which is the leading alliance of companies, trade unions and NGOs that promotes respect for workers' rights around the globe, as well as the code of conduct of the Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association (MGMA).