Social dialogue is defined by the International Labour Office to include all types of negotiation, consultation or simply exchange of information between, or among, representatives of governments, employers and workers, on issues of common interest relating to economic and social policy.

Policy dialogues are specially designed to enable stakeholders to engage in the development of policy and decision-making process. Policy dialogues are meant to contribute to informing, developing or implementing policies based on evidence and the involvement of social partners through their representative organizations.

As part of the ILO-GIP, a series of opinion pieces has been produced with the goal to provide the ILO social partners with a basis enabling constructive policy oriented dialogues in the garment sector. With the support of experts in their fields, the ILO-GIP commissioned opinion pieces on topics such as the importance and benefits of investing efforts toward the development of comprehensive industrial relations institutions, the importance of transparency in the labour dispute prevention and resolution system, collective bargaining as a tool for national development, opportunities for negotiation between factories and trade unions to address issues in the garment global supply chains, including but not limited to purchasing practices.

These have been developed with the goal to offer workers and employers’ organizations as well as government officials ideas and options available to them as Myanmar is modernizing its labour market institutions and using social and policy dialogue as a powerful tool for the country’s sustainable development.

The series of opinion pieces are as follows;

Supply chain cooperation between stakeholders

Collective bargaining as a tool for development

Transparency as a key for optimal dispute resolution system

Options toward fair industrial relations framework

Strategic options for trade union organizing in developing context