Myo Thein
Workers at Myanmar Huasheng Kefu Fashion Co., Ltd, a garment factory, are being forced to work around 120 hours of overtime per month, according to the Industrial Workers Federation of Myanmar (IWFM).
“This is a clear and serious violation of the law,” IWFM said. “Workers are not allowed to work more than 20 hours of overtime per week or 80 hours per month under Myanmar labour law. Employers are not permitted to demand it, and even workers who want to work overtime are not legally allowed to exceed those limits.”
Workers at the factory report that they are required to work overtime until midnight on four days each week. Due to severe sleep deprivation, some workers are unable to continue, but those who refuse are verbally abused by factory officials.
“They say things like, ‘Are you the only ones who are tired?’ Overtime is forced on us. In one month, we end up working over 100 to 120 overtime hours. Even Sundays are not given as rest days we are told they are ‘substitute workdays’ and forced to work again,” one worker said.
Workers added that the so-called substitute workdays often fall on official public holidays, and employees’ consent is never sought.
“The worst part is that they call overtime whenever they want. They never ask workers. They force us to work and, just before inspections, they rush workers to sign consent forms. The days we are forced to work as substitutes are officially declared public holidays by the Ministry of Labour, but the factory ignores this completely,” a worker said.
According to Myanmar labour law and directives issued by the Factories and Labour Inspection Department, employers must obtain prior approval at least one week in advance to arrange overtime, and overtime work must be voluntary, based solely on workers’ consent.
“Whether or not to work overtime is entirely the worker’s choice. A factory cannot say workers must work overtime just because they signed an OT form. Even after signing, a worker still has the right to refuse and go home. Otherwise, it becomes forced labour,” said a woman labour rights activist.
Due to excessive overtime, many workers are experiencing health problems, yet they are denied emergency leave and medical leave, workers said.
“We get sick because of illegal overtime but we’re not allowed to take leave. There is no emergency leave or medical leave at all. Missing one day results in wage deductions of more than 30,000 kyats. For emergencies, they deduct 5,000 kyats from attendance bonuses. If we bring snacks to eat because of hunger from nonstop overtime, we can be fired on the spot. The factory also does not follow its own employment contracts,” a worker said.
At the production level, a sewing line of around 40 workers is required to produce up to 50 shirts per hour, a target workers say is impossible. When targets are not met, supervisors and line leaders verbally abuse workers.
“They insult us every day. The targets are far beyond what workers can realistically produce. Before, the target was about 35 pieces, but now they are forcing much higher numbers through pressure,” another worker said.
Workers also reported that on days when labour inspectors visited the factory, or when labour violations were reported publicly, they were still forced to work overtime from early morning.
“The employer clearly doesn’t care. They violate the law openly, and no authorities take action. Workers don’t know who to rely on anymore,” a worker said.
Myanmar Huasheng Kefu Fashion Co., Ltd is located on Mya Khatter Road, Mya Sein Yaung Industrial Zone, Hlaingtharyar Township, Yangon. The factory is Chinese citizen-owned, employs more than 800 workers, and manufacturing brands including Terranova and Calliope, according to workers.
