By Myo Thein - Jun 14, 2025
Workers at Yuan Hong Garment Co., Ltd factory say they are being made to work continuously from lunch break until 7 p.m. without any rest, in addition to being forced to work double the legally permitted overtime hours. They also report to the Industrial Workers Federation of Myanmar (IWFM) that they are being made to work overtime even on Sundays, their designated day off.
“The factory makes us work from 12:30 p.m. after lunch until 7 p.m. without any rest. Some production lines even work until midnight. We are made to work 40 hours of overtime per week. We haven’t had a break the entire month. We didn’t get a single off out of four Sundays, all were spent working overtime. Over time, our health is suffering,” workers said.
Workers from the Pathein branch of Yuan Hong Garment said that they are being made to do overtime to complete garment orders, and those who refuse are being treated with hostility by supervisors and managers, being yelled at, and having their grade bonuses reduced.
“They cut our grade pay, whether we request gate passes or not, and sometimes they don’t approve the passes at all. As it’s run by Chinese foreign nationals, the supervisors and managers use abusive language to make sure we don't miss work. We are verbally abused every day and are subjected to psychological pressure,” the workers said.
Factory management reportedly require each 40-person production line to complete around 60 pieces of garments per hour, and workers are scolded and shouted at in front of others on a daily basis if the quota is not met, according to workers.
“A supervisor named Daw Win Mar from the ironing and packing department, is extremely verbally abusive. A worker even filed a complaint to the office, but nothing changed—she keeps shouting. We don’t get any leave, no matter how urgent. They deduct daily pay, overtime pay, everything if we miss work due to feeling unwell. It’s the us who suffer ince we don’t get leave,” they said.
The factory reportedly hires about 100 daily wage workers and dismisses them unlawfully when work decreases. Those workers have to pay bribes to get re-hired when work increases again, workers claim.
“Daily workers are dismissed illegally when work is scarce. One has to pay between 40,000 to 60,000 kyats to get hired again when there’s more work,” said the workers.
According to workers, the factory also forces young and underage daily wage workers to perform the same labor as adults without any medical clearance, and makes them work on Sundays without paying overtime. Moreover, workers report there is a serious lack of safety and other necessary provisions.
“A worker’s bicycle was stolen inside the factory. When we asked them to check the CCTV footage, they said there wasn’t any. They made rude remarks when we complained. There are not enough toilets in the factory; we have to wait in line. We get yelled at for waiting too long as well. We have to eat on the ground as there aren't enough dining tables. There is a clinic, but it has no medicine. The HR department knows all of this, but no responsible person in the factory is doing anything about it,” the workers said.
Workers say that the authorities only present pre-trained workers for inspection when inspection teams—including from the Labour Office—visit the factory, resulting in violations of workers’ rights going unnoticed.
Yuan Hong Garment factory is a garment factory manufacturing pants and shirts for Pikmie, FB Sister, JP, SinSay, Nano Universe, and Ambianmee brands. The factory, owned by Chinese national, is located on Twin Thin Thike Wun U Tun Nyo Road, Shwe Lin Ban Industrial Zone, Hlaing Tharyar Township, Yangon, and employs around 1,000 workers.
