By Min Ni Kyaw - Apr 06, 2025

It has been reported that two workers at GTIG HUBO Co. Ltd were dismissed under the accusation of charging their phones, after they had previously advocated for workers’ rights within the factory. Workers said the factory is located on Mya Taung Road, Shwe Pyi Thar Township, Yangon, within the Watayar Industrial Zone.

"The factory does not fully observe official holidays, so we frequently went to the manager’s office to discuss it. Since then, we were being watched. Now we’ve been dismissed over the phone issue," said one of the dismissed workers.

Yangon experienced a power outage due to a major earthquake on March 28, which caused difficulties for workers to charge their phones.

The factory management discovered some workers charging their phones inside the premises. As a result, two workers were dismissed on grounds of violating factory rules.

Charging phones was treated as a serious violation although there is an EC contract addendum prohibiting mobile phone use during working hours. The workers were pressured to sign warning letters and then were dismissed from their jobs.

“The factory manager wouldn’t let us leave his office if we didn’t sign the warning letter. Ee were fired after that,” the workers said.

GTIG HUBO garment factory has reportedly failed to honor officially declared holidays, cut wages of workers who did not work on those days, and monitored and discriminated against the two workers who advocated for labour rights, eventually leading to their dismissal.

GTIG HUBO garment factory is known to manufacture brands such as Only, Vulgaris, and Terranova.