H&M is going to pull out of Myanmar step by step. The world’s second-largest clothing company made this known to Reuters news agency on Thursday. Abuses in Asian clothing factories are not new in themselves, but a report published on Wednesday about recently deteriorated working conditions in Myanmar was the last straw for H&M. Inditex, the company behind Zara and Primark, among others, already preceded the Swedish billion-dollar company.
“We have been closely following the latest developments in Myanmar and see increasing challenges in conducting our business according to our standards and requirements,” the company writes, according to Reuters. “After careful consideration, we have decided to phase out our operations in Myanmar.”
The question is whether H&M’s decision will actually benefit the people of Myanmar. On its own website H&M writes that it has 41 factories in Myanmar employing nearly 42,000 workers. The European Union therefore encouraged companies to stay in Myanmar: the clothing and shoe industry is moving according to the International Labor Organization more than 700,000 Burmese to work. The lion’s share of these are young women, who have had little or no education.
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If these people lose their jobs, it is likely that they will lose out. H&M itself says it pays its workers more than the minimum wage in Myanmar. “By being in contact with local unions and working conditions, you can make a difference,” said Karina Ufert, top woman of the European Chamber of Commerce. to Reuters.
Since the Myanmar army overthrew democratically elected representatives in early 2021, working conditions in garment factories in the country have deteriorated. Out the report from the British NGO Business and Human Rights Resource Center (BHRRC), the number of abuses appears to have increased to 156 between February 2022 and February 2023, a hundred more than a year earlier. Salary deprivation was the most common.