Myo Thein
March 15, 2026
#Letter
Dear brothers and sisters at Myanmar Labour News,
I would like to report that at the Earnest Myanmar wool factory, we are being required to work overtime every day. The factory is located at the corner of U Pho Hlaing Road and Hospital Road 4, Shwe Lin Ban Industrial Zone, Hlaing Tharyar.
We do not even have time to go and file a complaint at the labor office as we have to work every day. What I want to report is that from Monday to Saturday, we have to work until 8 PM. Even though we are working overtime, we are not given a break even at 4 PM.
Although we are paid by piece rate, having to work overtime every day is not manageable for us.
We are afraid of being targeted and losing our jobs if we report this to the supervisors. We are also told that we must work 8 hours on Sundays, which are supposed to be rest days. When overtime is required, we are not informed in advance.
We understand that if we work on Sundays and public holidays, we should receive double daily wages. However, during a meeting, the employer told us that on Sundays we will only be paid based on how many pieces we sew, and we will not receive double daily wages.
They also said that even if we work on a holiday, we will not receive any overtime pay and will only be paid 10,000 kyats if we only sew pieces worth 10,000 kyats. Even though we are working on holidays, we are still only paid the normal piece rate. The employer said that if we want to earn double pay on holidays, we must sew double the amount.
We were told to work on the full moon day of Tabaung (March 2). The workers felt this was unfair and did not go to work. We did not receive any pay for that holiday. Since we are paid by piece rate, we have to sew even for holidays, and we are working under pressure.
In other factories, workers who work six days and rest one day still receive full wages. But for us, we only get paid for holidays if we are able to sew enough pieces. They are deceiving us by paying only piece rates.
Now we are also being told that we must work during the Thingyan holidays. They said that for those days, we will be paid 10,000 kyats per day along with piece rates. However, we want to return to our hometowns. If other workers go to work and we do not, we are afraid they will hold grudges against us.
We want the labor office officials and relevant authorities to know about this. We are truly suffering losses, so please help us.
