By Hsu Latt Phyu - May 17, 2024
Workers from RICH PINE INTERNATIONAL GROUP LIMITED which locates at Cyber City Industrial Zone, Amman, Jordan asked the Industrial Workers’ Federation of Myanmar (IWFM) for help for not being paid in accordance with the contract but instead paid by the ticket system, being asked excessive fabric outputs, being cut and discriminated against.
The factory is owned by a Chinese national and manufacturing Calvin Klein , LIZ Claiborne brand shirts, pants and jackets with more than 1,000 workers.
The workers are suffering health issues due to not getting enough sleep and don’t get fully paid as well. Therefore, they are informing them about returning to Myanmar but the factory asked 2,000 USD as a compensation which makes them difficult.
The factory hires workers more than 400 workers from Myanmar with MoU and said that they will pay 177 Jordan Dinar per day and 1.25 Jordan Dinar per hour for overtime but in reality, they are giving with the ticket system and the workers are having to work from 8:00 am to 10:00 pm or 12:00 am.
“We are affecting from health issues due to having to work 12 to 14 hours per day and the mandatory overtime which we can’t refuse. Despite calling excessive overtime, they forced us to sign a lied document saying that we only work 2 hours of overtime per hour. The citizens can go back early but forced us to work after closing the gates and we have to go back from the back door,” the workers explained.
The factory ask excessive fabric outputs that lies beyond the workers’ productivity such as 40 difficult fabric pieces per hours that leads the workers to work from 12:00 pm to 10:00 pm without allowing to have any meals in between.
Only Myanmar and Bangladesh nationals are working as seamstresses in the factory and Chinese, Urdu and Sri Lankan nationals work at other sessions and the benefits, salary and overtime fees are different.
“We are cut and forced to sign a warning if we can’t finish all the demanded fabric outputs. We The supervisors are suppressing the workers and more than 50 Bangladeshi workers go back with their own flight tickets in these days. We can’t withstand and there is no one to rely,” said the worker.
The ticket system payment create the tensions between the workers and supervisors according to the workers.
“We are forced to work until 10:00 pm for free on the Friday which is the public holiday of Jordan on the grounds that we don’t hit the garment outputs targets. The workers who don’t work overtime are treated with malice and those who work until midnight are not paid for the morning overtime fees,” the workers said.
Workers are suffering from mental and health issues after working nearly for a year and they are requesting the factory to send them back to Myanmar but the factory is asking 2,000 USD for that, saying that they took care of the workers expenses to work here with zero cost system. But workers said that the agencies already charged them around 630 USD to work there.
The HRs forced the workers to told the audits that they didn’t pay agent fees, didn’t tested urine, working only 8 hours per day and get full daily wages and overtime fees.
The workers address their problem to Industrial Workers’ Federation of Myanmar – IWFM for their labor rights being violated which is against the contract and rules.
The workers appeals are
1. To call overtime only with the workers’ consents
2. To follow the mutual contract between employe, employer and agencies
3. The supervisors not to verbally abuse and discriminate the workers
4. To give full daily wages and overtime wages
5. To let the workers enjoy the 1 hour of lunch time fully and not to assign any tasks during that time
6. Not to force overtime for free and to pay for those free overtime with backdates.
