Myanmar law allowing labor unions and strikes comes into effect

An announcement Saturday in the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper said the law took effect Friday and the Labor Department’s director general will oversee its implementation.

President Thein Sein signed the law last October as part of reforms following decades of military repression. He leads an army-backed but elected government that took power last March.

The reforms are aimed at achieving reconciliation with the pro-democracy movement of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and at encouraging Western nations to lift political and economic sanctions that were imposed over the previous military junta’s poor human rights record and failure to implement democracy.

Lifting the sanctions would encourage foreign investment and help spur growth in the labor-intensive industrial sector.

The law allows workers to form unions with a minimum of 30 members and stage a strike if they give 14 days’ notice and provide details such as how long it will last, how many workers will take part and how it will be conducted.

An employer who dismisses workers for going on strike or belonging to a union will face up to a year in jail and a fine of 100,000 kyat ($125), while workers who stage strikes against the law face up to a year in jail and a fine of 30,000 kyat ($38).

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