ByMa Ma - Nov 28, 2024
Factory workers report that they are demanding that the Chinese female owner stop verbally abusing them and directly managing them, that the factory quickly return withheld money to remaining workers, that workers be granted leave according to the law, that full wages be paid, and that supervisors act fairly when distributing bonuses, instead of dividing wages into halves.
The factory is located on Chin Dwin Road, Shwe Than Lwin Industrial Zone, Hlaing Thar Yar Township, and employs over 500 workers. The factory manufactures AMISU brand pants. Workers report that the factory has no union and that the employer is committing labor rights violations.
Workers state that output demands in the factory are unreasonably high, with a single production line of 30 workers expected to produce up to 50 pairs of pants per hour.
To meet these excessive production targets, supervisors constantly yell at workers, and the Chinese female owner also verbally abuses workers directly when output targets are not met.
“We only get a daily wage and a subsidy of 7,000 MMK, along with an overtime rate of 1,700 MMK per hour. That’s it. No other allowances. We are also not granted legal leave. If we miss one day of work due to illness, they deduct our daily wage and even our production bonus, which can amount to around 40,000 MMK. Right now, the employer has been paying wages every 15 days instead of monthly, claiming they have financial difficulties. The WCC committee in the factory sides with the employer and doesn’t even help ensure that withheld wages are returned or pending wages are paid. They even said, ‘Your receivables are not our concern,’” a worker said.
Myanmar Jiale Fashion Co. Ltd, owned by Chinese national, has been withholding workers’ ticket fees (fabric bonuses) since the military coup, citing difficulties with money transfers and withdrawals.
“Since the military coup, they’ve been claiming that money transfers and withdrawals are difficult and have been deducting at least 10,000 MMK from each worker’s ticket fees every month. Even when ours is 100,000 MMK, they only pay us 50% of it. For fabric bonus are over 100,000 MMK, they only give 40% to the workers and keep the remaining 60% for the employer. They’ve been doing this for over three years now. On September 28, the employer said they would pay back the withheld bonuses and had workers sign a document. Workers who are leaving asked when they could collect their money or if someone could collect it on their behalf. The factory said, ‘This isn’t an international transfer situation, so we won’t issue authorization letters.’ They said they would call to inform workers about the payment date, but no one has been contacted yet,” said another worker.
Currently, factory workers are demanding that the factory return the withheld production bonuses that have been deducted over the past three years.
Workers have contacted the Industrial Workers Federation of Myanmar (IWFM) to request assistance in addressing the employer’s labor rights violations and resolving the issue of withheld payments.
