By Citizen Journalists - Nov 02, 2024

Workers report that Xin Rui Co., Ltd. garment factory, unlawfully dismissed five workers. The dismissals were allegedly carried out against the directives from the Department of Labour’s Chief Officer.

One worker explained, “The official work hours start at 8 a.m., but they ring the bell 15 minutes earlier. Supervisors and leaders hold meetings. It takes an hour and a half for a week and six hours in a month. This practice is causing losses for the 5,400 workers here.”

Workers filed a complaint with the Chief Officer of the Department of Labour regarding this 15-minute early start, and on October 22, a directive was issued to stop this practice, with instructions to post the notice publicly at the factory.

“Five workers from the QC, Packing, and Iron departments were called to the office in the evening of October 22, around 4 p.m. They were given 1 month notice fee and their remaining wages and were asked to sign off on their termination,” a worker reported.

The dismissed workers refused the compensation offered by the factory and instead filed a complaint to the Department.

On September 6, workers at Xin Rui Co., Ltd. had staged a brief work stoppage to demand an increase in allowances that the Ministry had previously instructed the factory to implement.

“We refrained from returning to the work including workers from departments such as Packing, Iron, Snak, and QC, demanding the promised allowances. However, the factory manager responded by saying they couldn’t provide the allowance and told us to complain to anywhere we like and drove out us,” a worker said

Some workers later filed complaints to the Department regarding the allowance issue, but no changes were made. The workers involved in the demand were eventually allowed to return to work.

Workers said that Xin Rui Co., Ltd garment factory located on Saya Shan Road, Shwe Lin Ban Industrial Zone, Hlaing Thar Yar Township amd employs over 400 workers and manufactures OVS brand apparels.