By Myo Thein - Oct 19, 2025

#Letter

We are factory workers from Skytex (Myanmar) Garment Factory. We were happy when we first heard that the support allowance was going to be increased. But now we’ve come to realize that many factories in Bago haven’t increased it at all.

In fact, the support allowance is something the factory voluntarily provided. Now, they’re saying since they’ve already been giving it, and it amounts to over 7,800 kyats, they won’t be adding any more.

It’s us the workers who are losing out since the allowance is being included in our salary like this. The labour offices have issued letters saying support allowances should be listed separately from the base wage, but they’re not informing the factories properly.

Now, the support allowance remains as it was, with no increase. We were briefly happy thinking the wage had gone up by 30,000 kyats, but it turns out nothing has changed.

We’ve heard that factories like Kaifeng, SUTI, and Skytex in Bago haven’t increased anything either. In our own factory, we’re no longer being made to do overnight or all-night shifts. Now, we finish work by 4:00 p.m. And the manager who used to pressure us has been replaced. We also received our two-year service recognition.

We really appreciate the media for covering these stories. We just wanted to share how even though they’ve announced a support allowance increase, we workers haven’t really benefited from it.

Even though they say the daily wage is 7,800 kyats, they calculate it at only 4,800 kyats for days off. We don’t want these unstable support allowances anymore. What we want is a clearly defined daily minimum wage.

(Skytex (Myanmar) factory is operating in Kali Tat Kalae Village, Bago Township, Bago Region.)