By Myo Thein - Jul 07, 2025
Workers have reported that Lesmart (Myanmar) Apparel garment factory instructed them to lie to labour inspectors during a visit. According to workers, township labour officials visited the factory on the afternoon of July 3, following a news report published by Myanmar Labour News about the factory.
“Labour department officials arrived at the factory around 3 PM. Since they knew about the visit in advance, a male factory manager gathered everyone in a meeting around 1 PM. He told us to deny the factory news and to say that we don’t require overtime. He warned that anyone who didn’t follow this would lose their job,” said one worker.
Workers added that the Workplace Coordination Committee - WCC was instructed to lead the answering process to the inspectors' questions, which prevented ordinary workers from speaking openly about the actual working conditions. Workers still had to do three hours of overtime on the same day as the inspection, and they reportedly worked until 9:30 PM on the previous Saturday.
“They changed the daily attendance record before the inspectors came. It includes regular and overtime working hours. They made us sign a new one. They were afraid the officials would see the OT hours, so they made us rewrite it,” one worker explained.
Workers stated that the factory has been demanding continuous overtime for about a month. After the lunch break at 12:00 PM, they are required to work straight until the end of overtime without rest. Regular working hours start at 7:30 AM with a break for lunch at 11:30 AM, after which work resumes at 12:00 PM and continues until OT ends, with no further breaks.
There are also reports of unlawful dismissals inside the factory, with more than a dozen workers terminated.
“Workers who spoke up got fired on today (July 5). Out of the six, four were women and two were men. We can’t even speak anymore. They even fire workers for being slow. Around 20 people have been fired just this past month,” workers said.
Although Employment Contracts - EC don’t state that speaking out is grounds for termination, workers report that the factory manager uses intimidation tactics. They said the factory manager, a Chinese citizen, has also ordered supervisors to stand at attention during meetings.
“The factory manager says, ‘Stay if you can work. Leave if you can’t.’ They even makes supervisors who fail to meet production goals stand at attention during meetings. Workers are doing this job to support their basic needs, so everyone is feeling stressed,” a worker explained.
The factory reportedly employs around 900 workers and manufacture brands like DeFacto and LEGENDARY Whitetails. It is located in the Wataya Industrial Zone, Shwepyitha Township, Yangon.
