BY Min Ni Kyaw - May 08, 2025
Workers at LITA MYANMAR garment factory say that a manager is restricting their access to the toilet and forcing them to sign warning forms, even for normal use.
“The manager makes us sign to just use the toilet. A worker who uses toilet three or four times a day are made to sign a warning. The manager imposes harsh restrictions from the start of the workday. They are interfering even with workers' health needs,” one worker said.
The toilets themselves are reportedly unhygienic although the factory follows and calls on workers to the toilet with supervisors checking the doors. Workers have shared this with the Industrial Workers Federation of Myanmar (IWFM).
“Security guards are made to monitor us. If not, the HR managers do. The toilet area is leaking and it's near the canteen. It smells bad. Instead of fixing that, they’re making us sign warnings just for using the toilet,” they said.
Workers say the factory owner treats them like prisoners, watching them all day. Some finishing department workers had to travel back to work for two days at their own expense after the Thingyan holidays because the factory didn’t provide transportation.
“We had to travel on our own for two days. The ferry is also insufficient. We had to squeeze into vehicles. They don’t provide ferry service on Sundays, even if they call for overtime. We are verbally abused if we can’t work overtime. The WCC (Workplace Coordination Committee) knows this but says nothing,” workers said.
Workers at LITA MYANMAR say the factory pays only 7,800 kyats, citing instructions from the township labour office while other factories offer a daily wage of 10,000 kyats.
“The township labour office came to mediate when we made demands. Officials themselves said only 7,800 should be given. Other factories are giving 10,000 kyats. Here, they cut the daily wage for medical leave. We've never been granted casual leave. About 3,000 kyats are deducted from social security contributions every month. But we lose 7,800 kyats in daily wage and 25,000 kyats in attendance bonus if we miss one day,” workers said.
Workers say no significant improvements have been made although labour officials have inspected the factory for these violations, and representatives from the brands being produced there have also turned a blind eye.
“The buyers know about our complaints. They know about how the factory reduces wages and recruits. They know our wages are low. But we workers suffer as the buyers don’t act,” they said.
LITA MYANMAR Co., Ltd is owned by a Chinese national and operates in Industrial Zone 4, Shwe Pyi Thar Township, Yangon. Over 800 workers are employed there, manufacturing brands like LC Walklkl, HLA, TSDESIGN, AC, and BURTLE, according to the workers.
