By Thar Gyi - Jun 17, 2025
Workers told Industrial Workers Federation of Myanmar (IWFM) that Casico Garment Limited factory is subjecting discrimination, verbal abuse, and mistreatment to those who refuse excessive overtime.
“Normal working hours are from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. But we’re made to work until 9 p.m. or even midnight when there's a high production demand. We don’t want to work late into the night, but the factory pressures us to. They also force us to work overtime on Sundays. They scold us, hold grudges, and treat us unfairly if we refuse,” said the workers.
The factory demands output of 45 finished garments per hour for each production line of around 50 workers. Workers say that each sewer must complete between three to four sections of garment stitching to meet this target. Supervisors and line leaders verbally abuse workers relentlessly if the quota is not met.
“Even the HR manager comes down to the lines to pressure workers to meet production quotas, even though it's not part of her responsibilities,” the workers said.
Despite all workers performing the same work for the same hours, the daily wage is distributed unequally—ranging from 5,800 kyats, 6,800 kyats, to 7,200 kyats. Helpers in the hat department reportedly receive only 4,800 kyats.
Gate passes are usually not granted for family emergency issues and workers get a pass only if they fall seriously ill and must go to the clinic but lose their overtime pay.
“We don’t get our entitled leaves. No sick leave. No seniority leave. They deduct the daily and attendance bonuses—up to 30,000 kyats if we miss a day. It’s the workers who suffer,” they added.
Workers say the factory has not signed EC – Employment Contracts with them. Additionally, toilets inside the factory smell so bad that it’s hard to breathe, and the canteen is located so close to the toilets that eating becomes unpleasant.
Workers say that working conditions haven’t improved even though labor inspectors visited the factory.
“They came on June 8—two men and two women. They handed out forms asking us whether what was written in the reports was true. Some workers filled them out truthfully. But nothing has improved. Overtime is still forced, nonstop,” said workers.
They also said that some workers were coerced by management into writing false comments claiming that factory conditions were fine, in response to the reports of violations at Casico Garment Limited.
Casico Garment Limited is a Chinese national-owned factory employing over 400 workers. It manufactures SPAO brand surplus garments and is located on Seikkan Thar Road, Industrial Zone 3, Hlaing Tharyar Township, Yangon.
