By Yoon Sat -May 19, 2024
Despite the gold and dollar value rising in Myanmar, workers still receive only 4,800 kyats for 8 hours of work without being raised the daily minimum wage. Last year, the ministry increased the stipend by 1,000 kyat, but the salary was not increased.
"Some factories have increased the daily wages on this month. Some factories are paying 4,800 a day and 1,000 as an allowance. I have heard that workers from some factories are asking to raise the allowance. 1 kyat thar of gold (16.6 gram) is over 50 lakhs and a dollar is over 4,000 dollars. So far, the workers’ wages are not raised. 4,800 kyats a day can’t even feed their stomach well," said a worker.
Some factory owners in Yangon have raised the daily wages due to the shortage of workers and some factory raise 1,000 kyats in the allowance.
“Some factories are hiring with 6,500 or 7,000 or 7,5000 kyats and some factories are giving 2,000 kyats daily stipend and 10,000 monthly extra allowance and raise the attendance bonus from 20,000 kyats to 30,000 kyats. But there are many factories which still pay 4,800 kyats as the law don’t legally revised. The employers have to raise mandatorily only if the minimum wage law is revised. Currently, only few employers raise but that is still not the preferred amount,” said a trade union member.
The workers said that although some factories increased the allowance up to 7,500 kyats, they did not add a thousand kyat allowance, so it was not a significant change. The workers said that only if the minimum wage specified in the law is changed, the overtime fee would be increased, so they are still losing the increase in the allowance until now.
A dollar only cost 1,200 – 1,300 kyats when the daily minimum wage was set at 4,800 kyats in 2018. Six years later, in 2024, a dollar cost over 4,000 kyats, and workers are still working with 4,800 kyats.
Labor activists point out that the current wage of workers; 4,800 kyats for an 8-hour day is only around one dollar. Therefore, the Solidarity of Trade Unions, Myanmar (STUM) has requested that the minimum wage be increased to 10,000 kyats in their announcement on May 1st, (134th) May Day announcement.
