"Myanmar: Former prisoners fight for labour rights", 17 Nov 2016

…Labour activism came out from the shadows once the Labour Organization Law came into effect in April 2012, a landmark piece of legislation passed by former General Thein Sein's transitional government legalising all union activity in a rapidly industrialising Myanmar.

Hundreds of large-scale factories have boomed with foreign investment since international sanctions were lifted later that year…

The garment industry, in particular, has blossomed and is estimated to expand from 260,000 to more than 600,000 workers by 2018.

The challenge for the labour movement has been amassing a large enough collection of workers to influence policy change, like another national wage raise…

Wages remain one of the chief complaints of factory workers. The current daily minimum wage of 3,600 Myanmar Kyats a day ($3), is still considered "too low to cover basic costs"…

Cooperative Committee of Trade Unions (CCTU), the organisation, launched by Ye Naing Win and the former inmates of Myingyan Prison, is one of several labour rights NGOs offering free consultation to factory workers interested in unionising…

CCTU is not the only labour rights NGO operated by former political prisoners. There are at least four labour rights NGOs that conduct nearly identical work to CCTU, but rather than cooperate, each group chooses to simply coexist…

"We believe in a worker-led labour movement", says Ye Naing Win "The one thing we teach our workers is that change comes from them pushing politicians to act, you should never wait for them".