Myo Thein
Workers at the Mai Yi Bei Garment Manufacturing factory on Hospital Road, Shwe Lin Ban Industrial Zone, Hlaingtharyar Township, Yangon Region, say they are being made to work late-night overtime without being given rest breaks.
“We have to work until 10:30 p.m. every day of the week. About three days a week, we are even forced to work through the night until dawn, and over time people just can’t endure it anymore,” one worker said.
Workers report that the workday starts at 8:00 a.m., but only a 30-minute lunch break is allowed. In addition, the factory regularly forces workers to do overtime until 9:30 p.m. or 10:30 p.m., making it mandatory rather than voluntary.
OS staff and supervisors pressure workers to resign if they refuse to do overtime. Workers also say they are publicly scolded by name during workplace meetings and threatened with dismissal.
“OS staff and supervisors pressure us to quit if we don’t do overtime. During meetings, they call out our names, insult us, and threaten to fire us,” a worker said.
After being forced to work overtime through the night, workers are not given rest the following day. If they return using a gate pass due to health reasons, the factory records them as absent and deducts both attendance bonuses and daily wages, according to workers.
“The factory doesn’t grant leave, and we don’t receive any leave benefits. If we apply for sick leave, it’s marked as absence. They deduct both the attendance bonus of 10,000 kyats and the daily wage of 11,000 kyats. There are about 50 daily wage workers. Even after completing three months of service, they are never made permanent. They only get paid if they come to work, so they suffer even more,” a worker said.
Workers also report that one OS staff member verbally abuses and pressures workers to resign, while foreign staff members also display rude and aggressive behavior toward workers.
“The Chinese nationals speak harshly, point with their feet, and order us around in humiliating ways,” a worker said.
Mai Yi Bei factory is widely known in the Shwe Lin Ban Industrial Zone as “Khaung Thone Lone” (Three Horns), with a reputation for exploiting and pressuring workers, according to workers. They say that no matter which organization workplace issues are reported to, the factory resolves matters through bribery, preventing the truth from coming out and leaving workers to suffer.
“No matter which organization workplace problems are reported to, the factory uses bribes to settle the case, so the truth never comes out,” a worker said.
Although the factory claims to have a WCC organization in place, workers say they are not aware of it and that it is ineffective for workers while benefiting only the employer.
Mai Yi Bei garment factory is reportedly owned by Chinese citizens and employs more than 1,000 workers. The main products being manufactured are garments for the Alcott and Defacto brands.
