In an effort to bring stability back to the country’s embattled but crucial garment industry, the Ministry of Labor has joined forces with the International Labor Organization (ILO) and Swedish clothing giant H&M in a campaign for unions and factories to sign direct agreements to improve industrial relations.
The initiative is being funded by H&M—the world’s second-largest clothing retailer by sales—the Swedish government and Swedish trade union IF Metall, and comes after a year in which the industry has been plagued by a record-setting number of strikes and a nationwide protest for higher wages, which started in late December and was lethally suppressed in early January. …