1 December

THE  Confederation  of  Trade  Unions  of  Myanmar-CTUM-  concluded its second congress yesterday and issued a decla-ration,  along  with  approving  changes to its charter.

In  its  declaration  issued  during  the  two-day  congress,  which attracted some 260 del-egates from international and local labour organizations, po-litical parties and lawmakers, the CTUM has committed itself to eight points, including seek-ing the freedom to form labour unions, seeking social security protection and health care for workers, along with guaranteed jobs and secure incomes.

CTUM  has  over  65,000  members nationwide.

“We  managed  to  enroll  22,533 more members, assisted in over 1000 cases of industrial disputes, helped with 180 cases of unsafe migration and, in the process,  won  US$360,000  for  victims,” said U Maung Maung, President of the CTUM, in his opening  remark  at  the  con-gress.

Lawmakers  from  com-mittees  related  to  workers,  and   governmental   repre-sentatives,  also  attended  the  congress.

In their remarks, lawmak-ers encouraged the represent-atives  of  the  labour  unions  to  cooperate  more  closely  with  parliamentary bodies.

U  Myo  Aung,  Permanent  Representative  of  the  Minis-try of Labour, Immigration and Population,  stressed  the  im-portance  of  good  negotiating  skills in solving labour disputes, while praising the past achieve-ments in the country.

There are 22 million work-ers in Myanmar, with more than 48  per  cent  of  the  population  employed  in  the  agricultural  sector. — GNLM