By Min Ni Kyaw - Mar 18, 2025
At LITA MYANMAR Co., Ltd, a Chinese-owned factory, management has been denying workers their legally mandated holidays while arbitrarily imposing replacement workdays and overtime shifts without clear communication, according to factory workers.
The factory, located on Sat Sayar U Tun Street, Shwe Pyi Thar Industrial Zone 4, Shwe Pyi Thar Township, operates with over 800 employees. However, there is no trade union, and multiple labour rights violations have been reported.
The factory produces manufacture brands such as BURTLE, URBAN RESEARCH DOORS, and Golden Bear.
"Other factories are closing for three or four days, but ours refuses to give us any days off. They only granted a single day off for Full Moon Day, saying it follows the calendar, and told us to complain wherever we wanted. They also don’t inform us in advance about the days they require us to make up for, and we end up working at their discretion. They advertise high wages online to attract new workers, but we never get the amount we expected when payday comes. Turnover is high due to this, and most of the workers left in the factory are underage employees, trainees, or new hires," said a factory worker.
Overtime policies at the factory are unclear. Saturday shifts regularly extend until 6:30 PM, while Sundays are used interchangeably for both makeup shifts and overtime, without official clarification. Workers report that repeated complaints about the denial of legal leave have been ignored. They are not given the corresponding benefits despite having nearly 3,000 MMK deducted monthly for social security contributions.
As workers are denied their legal leave, missing a single day results in deductions of 7,800 MMK from daily wages and 25,000 MMK from attendance bonuses.
"The factory has been arbitrarily firing workers for a long time. They dismissed a packing department worker under the excuse of reducing staff just last month, refusing to let them into the workplace and only paying a minimal severance. They frequently target vocal workers for dismissal. Labour officials come to inspect violations but they side with the factory, accept bribes, and leave. the labour office in Insein defended the factory instead of protecting us when we previously protested unfair deductions from attendance bonuses," a worker explained.
Due to these ongoing labour rights violations, factory workers have sought assistance from the Industrial Workers Federation of Myanmar (IWFM).
Workers at the factory are demanding an end to forced overtime on Saturdays and Sundays, stricter and more effective inspections from the labour department, enforcement of legal leave entitlements, and an end to unfair terminations.
