By Min Ni Kyaw - Aug 13, 2024
Workers from HERMITE plush toy factory said that the factory officials are intimidating them to work overtime on Sundays. According to them, the factory is owned by a South Korean national and hires more than 1,000 workers.
We only rest a day in July on Martyrs’ Day. The factory doesn’t close on Full Moon Day of War So. We are working from 12:30 p.m. after lunch to 8:00 p.m. continuously without a break,” a worker said.
HERMITE factory is calling overtime on day offs since May and the workers who refused to work overtime are moved to non-native departments and cut financially and their benefits.
“We were moved to other departments and the bonuses are also cut if we don’t work overtime on Sundays. The factory is calling overtime on Sundays once in two weeks,” they said.
The factory usually grant them bonus for job complement but the bonus were cut 33 % for first time, 70 % for first time and 100 % for third time if they don’t work normal overtime and Sunday overtime.
The workers also said that the factory only give medical leaves.
“We were cut daily wages, attendance bonus and half of the grade bonus if we take a leave. The attendance bonus is around 40,000 kyats. So, we lost around 50,000 kyats for a missing work a day,” the worker explained.
The Labor Officers visited the factory after complaints but the excessive overtime and deficiency in hygienic measurements were not changed. Furthermore, the line leaders always manipulate the workers to give false answers to the officers.
“The leaders tell us to lie. They intimidate us with our job stability to say that we work overtime only until 6:00 p.m. They say the factory’s reputation will fall if we don’t lie. Therefore, workers didn’t tell the truth that they work until mid-night by the fear of dismissal,” the worker stated.
The worker who witnessed the inspection said that the inspectors initially selected around 15 workers but the remaining were chosen by the factory.
“We were working until 8:00 p.m. on Sundays since July till now. We rapidly have health issues and anxieties. We afraid of being moved to other departments and cut. Therefore, we are tolerating,” the workers explained about how the excessive overtime affect them psychologically and in terms of health.
One of the workers said the reason they work without a break time is due to the changes of the working hours to 7:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and they explained about their tiredness after working continuously without a break as followings –
“We got a 30 minutes break when we work only until 6:30 p.m. But we are working until 8:00 p.m. and there is no break time anymore. We got home late and exhausted. Whatever they make changes, the ones who suffer are workers.”
HERMITE factory is a member of MGMA and Myanmar Labour News have reported news item about the factory on July 18 regarding the excessive overtime, deficiency in hygienic measures, intimidations and force transfers to non-native departments for not working overtime.
