By Hsu Latt Phyu - Aug 29, 2025
Workers from Casico Garment Limited at Seikkanthar Road, Hlaingtharyar Township, Industrial Zone 3, Yangon Region have reported to the Industrial Workers Federation of Myanmar (IWFM) that they are facing growing difficulties due to being denied rest days and being repeatedly forced into excessive overtime.
In addition, workers said garment production quotas are set far beyond what they can reasonably finish, and they are made to endure verbal abuse directly from the manager, degrading their dignity at work.
“The regular working hours are from 8:00 AM to 7:00 PM. But we work from 9:00 PM until 12:00 AM for overtime. There are even full overnight shifts. We can’t refuse if they call for overtime. They scold us when we don’t work overtime. They hold grudges and treat us unfairly,” one worker from the factory said.
They added that in addition to working both midnight and overnight shifts on Saturdays, they are also made to work overtime on Sundays with no rest at all.
“They set a target of up to 60 woven garments per hour in each sewing line of over 40 workers. Each sewing worker has to stitch up to three or four points. The supervisors and line leaders scold us harshly if we don’t meet the target. They just keep yelling while making us sew. The sewing line manager herself calls for forced overtime and demands high targets while shouting. We just keep going quietly for the sake of making a living. But really, they could assign the work without shouting. And they should give us rest days,” another worker said.
Workers said there is no fair pay system with some receiving 4,800 MMK, 5,800 MMK, or 6,800 MMK in daily wages, while helper workers are only paid 4,800 MMK.
They also reported being denied labor rights like emergency leave or sick leave, and that if they miss just one day of work, both the daily wage and the attendance bonus; totaling 60,000 MMK are fully deducted, causing significant hardship.
The factory is owned by a South Korean national and employs over 400 workers, producing brands including musinsa standard, Spao, and Head.
Workers say they face difficulty in filing complaints about such labor rights violations, and that even when issues are reported and media coverage leads to inspections, verbal abuse and violations only worsen afterwards.
They said they want fair resolution between employers and workers regarding these workplace violations.
Workers are demanding the following:
- Employer should only demand garment targets that workers can realistically meet.
- Employer should allow workers to take their entitled leave days.
- Supervisors and line leaders should stop scolding workers harshly when targets are not met.
- Production managers should refrain from shouting at workers while pushing for targets.
- If workers do not work the employer-assigned overtime, they should not be scolded, mistreated, or discriminated against.
- Employer should stop paying different daily wages to different workers doing the same job.
