By Min Ni Kyaw - Dec 04, 2024
Workers from the Nice Food Myanmar bakery located in the East Dagon Industrial Zone said that they are being forced to work shifts exceeding 12 hours a day, according to employees.
“The working hours are from 5:30 AM to 5:30 PM and from 5:30 PM to 5:30 AM, meaning we work two shifts, day and night, totaling 24 hours a day with no day offs,” said one worker.
Although the labor law sets a maximum of 8 hours per day as the standard working hours, workers say they do not receive overtime pay for the extra hours they work. Furthermore, they are also required to work on their day offs and public holidays, according to reports.
“We don’t just miss out on overtime pay. We don’t get day offs or leave either. What’s worse is that there’s no break even on Sundays. We don’t get paid for that holiday even if they close for a holiday” said the workers.
For male workers, the total basic salary, daily allowance, and bonuses amount to 255,000 MMK. However, female workers reportedly only receive 245,000 MMK per month, indicating discriminatory pay practices, according to workers. In addition, workers also report that wages are deducted for missed workdays.
“Right now, the government’s minimum wage combined with the additional 2,000 MMK daily subsidy means the daily wage should be 6,800 MMK. Overtime pay should be 1,700 MMK per hour. If a worker does four hours of overtime per day, they would earn an additional 6,800 MMK just from overtime. With no rest days, if they work 30 days in a month, they should earn over 200,000 MMK just in overtime. With everything included, workers at that factory should earn over 400,000 MMK per month,” said a member of the trade union.
Workers said that the factory hid workers and covered up issues during these inspections although officials from the labor office have visited twice for inspections.
The Nice Food Myanmar bakery is located at the intersection of Than Chat Wun U Nyunt Road and Pyin Si Min Thar Gyi Road, East Dagon Industrial Zone, Yangon. The factory employs around 300 workers to manufacture a variety of baked goods, including cakes, dry pastries, moist pastries, and mooncakes, according to workers.
