By Min Ni Kyaw - Nov 03, 2024
Workers from the Japanese company, Diamond Rental Myanmar Co., Ltd, has terminated the contracts of 25 workers unilaterally, leaving them unemployed. It was learned that on August 26, 13 workers were summoned and met by two Japanese nationals company officials and after that they were dismissed from their jobs.
“The company said there was no more projects and that they need to reduce staff. They notified the 13 workers a month in advance and mentioned that the employment contracts would end on September 5. They also said they might rehire if the work situation improved, but they terminated us without a fixed timeframe,” one of the dismissed workers said.
Prior to this, 10 other workers had also faced similar contract terminations, according to further reports. They stated that the company only signed six-month EC contracts in 2023.
“We had only worked for three months, so we asked the HR department and two Japanese national officials how they would arrange for the remaining three months. They said they couldn’t do anything and refused to pay the wages,” another worker said.
According to Chapter 3, Article 5, Subsection (g) of the 2013 Labor and Skills Development Law, the Ministry must issue an order to ensure that the employer compensates workers for the stipulated damages when terminating employment contracts.
“The company said they would rehire if the work situation improved, but there’s no clear timeframe for when that might happen. Jobs are scarce at the moment. The workers are suffering, and we want the company to take responsibility for the remaining three months as per the contract,” one of the terminated workers added.
Although the company was founded in November 2015, it is known that Diamond Rental Myanmar does not have an elected workplace coordination committee. Workers also reported that the company deducted pay when they took leave and that they were not paid equivalent wages or leave benefits for seniority leave.
“We were told that we only had six days of casual leave but it would result in a pay cut when we took off. We also did not receive seniority leave or equivalent wages. We didn’t receive full entitlements, and we’ve been suffering,” one worker stated.
Diamond Rental Myanmar Company Limited is a machinery and equipment rental business located on Thilawa Road in the Thilawa Industrial Zone, Yangon. According to the company’s website, its shareholders include Mitsubishi Corporation and Nikken Corporation. Mitsubishi Corporation is involved in several projects within Myanmar funded by the Japanese government's ODA (Official Development Assistance) program.
Diamond Rental Myanmar Company Limited is managed by NODA CRANE and employes around 100 workforces. It has contributed to projects such as railway upgrades, Thanlyin-Attayan-Zathapyin bridge construction and port special economic zone development. Workers said that the company is also involved in the ongoing Dala-Yangon bridge construction project.
