By Min Ni Kyaw Oct 23, 2023
Labor activists have criticized the fact that the Ministry of Labor uses 1,000 kyats as an additional allowance, so there may be complications in the payment of overtime wages.
Currently, the wage of workers in the country is set at 4,800 kyats for an 8-hour working day. At the beginning of last October, the Ministry of Labor used the phrase "additional allowance" and announced that the rate must be increased by one thousand kyat starting October 1.
''The time to raise the minimum wage rate is already late. They raise 1,000 kyats only right now. They say it's extra allowance, so how do we calculate the overtime pay? Actually, even if they add the 1,000 kyats increase and calculate it at the rate of 5,800, the workers would still be difficult, if they do this as an extra support fee, it will be confusing if we calculate the overtime,'' said a labor activist.
Minimum Wage Law was enacted in March 2013 and the mandatory minimum wage rate for the workers was established on June 29th 2015.
In that provision, it was specified that workers must be paid 450 kyats per hour for 8 hours of work (3600 kyats) per day, regardless of location or type of business in Myanmar.
The ministry also enacted that those small businesses with less than 15 workers it is not related in that specification.
In addition, the law stipulates that the minimum wage should be reviewed and prepared once every two (2) years so that it set a fair minimum wage in line with rising commodity prices. Therefore, in 2018, the minimum wage rate was revised for the second time, and the wage for an 8-hour day was increased from 3,600 kyats to 4,800 kyats.
“I see that the increase of 1,000 is just taking advantage of the workers together with the employees. In fact, rice and oil prices are not what it used to be. In other words, the workers are not given raises with goodwill. Just showing a so called raise and manipulating,” a former leader of a factory-based union said.
He said that the Ministry of Labor under the Military Council is currently operating in favor of employers and is turning a blind eye to the violation of workers' legal rights.
The labor organizations requested that the minimum wage be increased for the third time between 7,000 and 10,000 kyats, but only 1,000 kyats was increased under the title of additional allowance.
