Myo Thein
Workers say that a garment factory owned by Sky Fashion Myanmar Co., Ltd has rehired young workers who were previously dismissed for being underage and is now forcing them to work as daily laborers.
“They collected lists of workers aged 14, 15, and 16 ahead of an order-side workplace inspection and dismissed all of them without any prior notice. Now they are calling them back and making them work as daily laborers. These young workers are made to do the same work as adult workers, but they are not paid the same wages. They keep dismissing them and rehiring them again and again,” a worker said.
An official from the Industrial Workers Federation of Myanmar (IWFM) said the factory was also found to be forcing workers to work without observing official public holidays announced by the Ministry of Labour.
“There was already an official notice stating that four consecutive days for Christmas should be holidays. But this factory said only December 25, Christmas Day, and Sunday, December 28, were holidays. They said that because December 26 should be a holiday, they would make workers come to work on Saturday, December 27, and deduct the four hours of overtime earned that day to cover December 26. They said this during a meeting. This is a violation of the law. This kind of practice is not allowed,” the official said.
Workers also said that although they reported workplace difficulties to the WCC, the information was leaked and the factory pressured the worker who raised the issues into resigning. They added that the factory does not approve legally mandated casual leave or medical leave, instead marking such absences as leave without permission.
“If you are absent, they deduct the daily wage and the attendance bonus. We cannot get gate passes. We are forced to meet production targets even when we are sick. We are verbally abused if we are unwell and cannot meet targets even with a gate pass,” a worker said.
Workers said they also face difficulties such as missing breakfast due to late ferry arrivals, and returning home late in the morning after overtime because all workers are transported together using a single ferry, causing delays.
“There are so many violations. Nothing changes even if we go to the labour office to file complaints. No one cares even if we post on social media. No office takes action. Everyone just says everything can be resolved with money,” a worker said.
Sky Fashion Myanmar Co., Ltd is located on Mya Sabal 1 Street, the Mya Sein Yaung Industrial Zone, Yangon. It is reportedly owned by Chinese citiens. More than 800 workers are employed at the factory, which is known to manufacture the LCW VISION and YES.ZEE brands.
