By Hsu Latt Phyu - Apr 03, 2024
Workers from the YICHANG HANDBAD (Myanmar) bag factory which located on Kan Baw Za (7) Road, Expanded Industrial Zone (4), Mingaladon Township, Yangon Division said that the factory is forcing them to work excessive overtimes, asking impossible fabric outputs and verbally abusing them.
The Chinese national owned factory has more than 500 workers and is owned by Chinese and manufacturing Lenovo bag brands. There is no organization to address the disputes in the factory.
“The factory does not give casual leave and medical leave that the worker is entitled to. Although the Social Security Clinic provides medical leave, the employee does not. The factory cuts the daily wages 5,800 kyats and attendance bonus 20,000 kyats for an absent. This cause workers a lot,” said the worker.
Moreover, the toilets are dirty, the drinking water is not clean, and there is no clinic or drugs and medicines for the workers if they are injured in the workplace.
The working hours is from 8 AM to 6:30 PM. However, they must work between 8 PM and 12 AM as overtime without prior notice if there is an emergency task. The employee discriminates those who don’t work overtime.
“They don’t notify the overtime in advance and it is mendatory. They ask 50 bags per hour for a cavity with 50 people,” the workers said.
The cavities with 50 people have to sew 1300 bags within 10 hours including 2 hours of overti,e and their salary is daily wages 5,800 kyats and attendance bonus 20,000 kyats. The supervisors are also verbally abusing the workers and humiliating them.
The factory hires day laborers and they are not promoted as permanent after three months and dismissed if there are few tasks to assign them. This make them suffer in seniority benefits.
The workers said that they want to request the factory to give them access to the legal casual and medical leave, not to verbally abuse when asking for the fabric standard, to ask the fabric standard that is in lined with their productivity and to ask their consents for overtime.
