Myo Thein
#Workers’ Letter
Yangon Wan Ping Garment Factory, located in Myaungtaka Industrial Zone, Hmawbi Township, Yangon Region, is forcing workers to work overtime without their consent.
We are required to personally sign overtime consent forms. Even if we do not want to work overtime and refuse to sign, we are still called in and questioned about why we did not sign.
Office staff say that we do not have to sign if we do not want to work overtime. However, in reality, supervisors tell us that it will not be acceptable, leaving us no choice but to sign.
We have grown tired of speaking up, so they end up signing. We are scolded by either supervisors or office staff if we cannot come for overtime and stay absent.
WCC members only instruct workers to sign when overtime is called and simply nod in agreement with whatever the factory says.
They do not speak up at all for workers who are forced to work overtime against their will. During Karen New Year, Karen workers did not want to work. However, supervisors pressured them by saying they must sign and that the labour office had already approved the factory’s right to call overtime, so workers were forced to sign.
WCC members said nothing. It is unclear whether they even understand labour law.
Workers can submit complaints and difficulties through the WOVO app or via Viber. However, workers are required to provide their employee code number, which makes the process unsafe and insecure.
The factory provides an attendance bonus of 100,000 Kyats, but has announced that if orders are low, only 50,000 Kyats will be paid.
Although it is called an attendance bonus, the entire 100,000 Kyats is deducted for reasons such as arriving late to work, obtaining a gate pass, differences in production targets, taking leave, or not working overtime on holidays.
An attendance bonus is meant to reward regular attendance at work. It should not be linked to production targets or to whether a worker agrees to work overtime.
The factory employs around 1,000 workers and manufactures for brands such as H&M, YKK, and Japanese brands.
