The Junta council announced today (September 30) that government employees will receive an additional allowance of 30,000 MMK, but there has been no press release for the private sector.

Government employees will receive an additional allowance of 30,000 MMK starting from next October, and day workers working in the respective departments will receive an additional allowance of 1,000 MMK for working 8 hours a day, the Junta has announced.

There is no news about this increase for private employees yet. The news that government employees will increase their wages has been coming out for the past few days.

"I would say that the time to adjust the minimum wage rate has already passed. The ministry pretends not to know. Now, I see that the increase only for the government employees under the title of additional allowance is just a joke. In fact, what about the government's wage that is equivalent to the times must also be increased for the private sectors," said a former member of the Basic Factory Union.

Locally, 4,800 MMK are set for an 8-hour working day, and currently, some factories are increasing it from 5,600 MMK to 7,000 MMK.

According to the statutory minimum wage law, wages should be paid according to the times, but the employers are only giving one thousand kyat more.

"Actually, people will only comfortable only if they get 10,000 MMK minimum. But right now, even though we work overtime both day and night, we are not comfortable. Now, if the salary of the employees is increased, I am worried about the good prices increasement too. I am seeing that we are going to face the double good price increasement whilst the wages they increase is only 1,000 MMK" said a labour working at a garment factory.

Since the coup, local labours have been facing violations of their rights and livelihoods due to insufficient wages.