By Min Ni Kyaw - Apr 01, 2024
An official of the factory union of Saung Oo Shwe Nay factory told that the factory officials have been trying to form yellow trade unions for around 2 months.
“The HR said that they will form another trade union since last two months at the meeting. And they campaign two former leaders from the current union by giving them opportunities and also to move them into the WCC,” said the current union official.
A member of the Labor Federation said that the yellow union is a union led by employers and factory officials. The International Labor Organization (ILO) standard and Myanmar's labor laws stipulate that unions should be formed freely in order to support workers' rights in the workplace. However, in some factories, employers lead unions and violating workers' rights.
“There are many workplace disputes during these times at the Saung Oo Shwe Nay factory. Some issues reaches to the township labor office and some are addressed without the union but the WCC is always there. This can be assumed as they are trying to eliminate the union,” they said.
In addition, factory officials and people close to them write comments that say fake news below the reports of the factory's workers' rights violations. There are more than 100 members in the factory’s trade union, and some of the leaders have told that some factory stuffs have try to destroy the image of the union by writing on social media that there are financial scandals against the leaders of the union. The leaders said that the factory union not only publishes accurate financial statements, but also immediately resolves issues that workers are asking for help.
“The employer wants only the trade union that follow their orders. For us, we don’t turn a blind eye on the workers’ damages. We don’t accept when the factory officials said that workers’ daily wages and attendance bonus will be cut as before for absent. If they successfully formed the yellow unions, the workers would suffer a lot,” said a current union leader.
Saung Oo Shwe Nay factory is a Chinese national owned factory which locates at A Lal 3 Street, Ngwe Pin Lae Industrial Zone, Hlaing Thar Yar Township, Yangon region and manufacturing SMOG. H&M and DIVIDED brands with more than 1,000 workers.
