"Inditex is Getting Out of Myanmar"

... Inditex is in the process of a “phased exit” from Myanmar, in accordance with global trade union IndustriALL’s call for disinvestment, a spokesperson told Sourcing Journal.

As such, the Zara owner will continue to reduce the number of “active” manufacturers that it contracts in the Southeast Asian nation, where the military has been locked in an increasingly bloody civil war with armed ethnic groups and anti-coup protestors since 2021.

The move comes as the retail titan was named as a buyer at Hosheng (Myanmar) Garment Company, a Yangon-based factory where seven union workers were fired at the start of June. Their alleged offense: Demanding a wage increase from 4,800 kyats ($2.29) to 5,600 kyats ($2.67) per day, according to The Irrawaddy, a news outlet run by Burmese exiles living in Thailand. Five of them were subsequently arrested and hauled off to a junta interrogation camp, a witness told the outlet on Tuesday. Another two, the person said, are in hiding.

Hosheng, a Chinese-owned facility in the Thardukan Industrial Zone, did not respond to a request for comment.

Such heavy-handed tactics are far from new, said IndustriALL. In the two years since the semi-democratic government’s ouster, more than 300 union members and activists have been thrown into jail. The junta has banned nearly all unions, “effectively” wiping out the fundamental right of freedom of association...