Myo Thein
Feb 27, 2026
Workers at the Dooriga Global Garment (Mi Ba Gon Yee) factory say they are being disadvantaged because the employer has set a fixed date for granting seniority leave, according to complaints submitted to the Industrial Workers’ Federation of Myanmar (IWFM).
“The employer grants 10 days of seniority leave during the Thingyan holiday. We whose one-year service is completed in May or June are told they will only be allowed to take leave in April of the following year. This means workers may have to wait nearly two years to receive their entitlement,” an IWFM official said.
Workers said the factory has set a fixed annual schedule during the Thingyan period to grant one-year seniority leave.
“In other factories, once a worker completes one year from their starting month, they are granted seniority leave accordingly,” a female worker from Dooriga Global Garment said.
Labour rights experts say this practice forces workers to wait up to two years for leave and contradicts the provisions of the 1951 Leave and Holidays Act.
“Under the law, once a worker completes 12 months of service, they are immediately entitled to 10 days of earned leave. A company does not have the right to impose a fixed date, such as year-end or the end of a financial year, to delay this entitlement. For example, if a worker joins in June 2023, they should receive leave in June 2024. If the company says it will only grant leave in January 2025, the worker effectively has to wait more than one and a half years,” an expert said.
Workers also said they are not allowed to carry mobile phones inside the workplace, and that security personnel conduct body searches at the factory gate to check for phones.
“Phones are not allowed inside the workplace. At the factory gate, security checks by patting down our chests and bodies to see if we are carrying phones. It’s not just once. They check again after lunch,” workers said.
Workers said they carry phones for emergency and personal communication with family members, and view the searches as a violation of their rights. They also alleged that the factory sets excessively high production targets and verbally abuses workers if quotas are not met.
“Supervisors shout and swear at us if we cannot meet the production target. The yelling is unbearable. We are pressured to meet the numbers at all costs,” workers said.
They added that when urgent orders arise, they are required to work overtime through the night without being given rest the following day, and may be required to continue with additional night overtime, leading to health problems.
Dooriga Global Garment employs more than 800 workers and is reportedly owned by South Korean citizen. The factory is located in Lwan Swet Village, Thilawa Industrial Zone, Thanlyin Township, Yangon, and manufactures the Glacier, SPAO, and Giordano brands, workers said.
