JILAF | Japan International Labour Foundation

The program was held online from Monday, January 24 to Friday, January 28 and from Monday, January 31 to Friday, February 4. *Please note that in consideration of ensuring the safety of participants, photos will not be posted for the Myanmar program.

Having been invited to take part, from January 24 to January 28, three promising young trade union activists (all female) from Myanmar completed the entire program, and from January 31 to February 4 nine promising young trade union activists (including five women) from Laos completed the entire program.

JILAF has been implementing its programs through "online programs" via the Internet in place of training programs that invite overseas trainees to Japan due to the restrictions on entry into Japan caused by the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
The online program consisted of five days, with two days spent watching on-demand videos on labor-management relations and labor policy and three days of real-time online sessions where participants exchanged opinions with JILAF officers and followed lectures.
On the fourth day, a university collaborative session was held with faculty members and students from the Department of Economics at Meikai University, where they presented the situation surrounding their respective countries as well as labor issues both at the workplace and the national level, and engaged in a lively question and answer session with participants in Japan. In particular, with regard to Myanmar, there was a report on the recent situation in regard to workers since the coup d'état that took place in February 2021, and information from the site was shared.

Participants mainly proposed the following action plans.
（１） We would like to incorporate what was learned this time, especially about the state of labor-management relations and labor legislation, into the training programs at each workplace so that the National Center can use this as a reference for raising issues in the country as a whole. (Laos National Center staff)
（２） When Myanmar returns to civilian rule, it would be ideal to prepare for the formulation of a new system and relationships based on the Japanese system of labor-management relations and dispute resolution, so that Myanmar can be more democratic and establish workers' rights as opposed to the current legal system, despite the difficult circumstances. (Myanmar)