By Yoon Satt - Nov 24, 2023
Due to the economic downturn since the military coup in Myanmar, local jobs are scarce and daily commodity prices are rising. As factory workers began to demand an increase in the minimum wage, the Military Council Labor Ministry increased the subsidy by 1,000 kyats in last October.
The increase has not changed significantly for workers, and because of cost-cutting by employers, workers have been working without other benefits beyond the minimum wage. Currently, in the garment sector, which employs more than 500,000 domestic workers, labor observers and workers say that due to unwillingness to give workers rights, more and more people are being hired as day laborers.
"That’s right, 500 out of 1,000 workers in our factory are day laborers," said a garment worker in Thar Dhu Kan Industrial Zone.
"Some hire day laborers as they don’t want to pay professionality fees or others. For those with less service, it is impossible to complain the employer although they are not satisfied. As there is a shortage of jobs, the workers work as day laborers just to get a job. There are even various types of day laborers. Those who got paid daily, monthly or weekly. Industrial zone workers mostly get paid by day,” said a labor activist.
A day laborer from Hlaing Thar Yar Industrial Zone said that they are losing their rights although they are professionals as most of the factory employers label them as day laborers and pay at the end of the month but not include the wages on public holidays, most factories do not pay for the weekends although the law stipulate, not getting leaves and seniority as the monthly workers and benefits such as attendance bonus and professionality fees as they are appointed as prohibition.
Regarding the increase in the number of day laborers appointed, a local labor activist said, "They hire day laborers so that they can fire whenever they want. Day laborers can be fired today or tomorrow. That's why they hire day workers. Another thing is that when the day laborers who got paid monthly, as they don't know if they will be fired today or tomorrow, so they won't say anything even if their rights are being violated.". Another thing is that even if the day laborer are fired, they only have to pay less severance. If it's a permanent, they have to pay the annual damages and they don’t want to.”
Currently, there are more than 500 garment factories operating nationwide, creating jobs for over 500,000 workers, and the Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association has announced that it is the sector that can provide the most domestic employment.
At present, about one-third of the workers employed in factories are day laborers, and if any labor problem occurs, there is no resolvent for it and instead if such cases happen, they are fired immediately as they are day laborers.
I support that day laborers who got paid monthly should be entitled to leaves. They do have it. Even though they knew about the issue of not allowing leaves, the workers did not dare to complain There is a difference between day laborers who get paid daily and monthly. Not even on leaves. There are things like that. They look for laborers with few rights. Day laborers who get paid daily can be paid 5,000 or 6,000 kyats daily but those who got paid monthly will have professional fees. They started to consider about paying monthly as there are bonuses and attendance allowances. As employers, they prefer less paying and more for free.
They save the salary costs. But to prevent such a thing from happening, we are helping the day laborers to get paid for Sundays which they don't get for. Some workers have service of more than six months to a year. When the employers don't pay those workers for Sunday, we ask for it back if the daily laborers haven't really been paid for because they are factories," said a labor activist.
Currently, in 2023, the Myanmar Garment Industry Association has announced that investments have entered the Myanmar garment sector in droves. The labor activist reviewed that the although business sector is reported growing rapidly, the day laborers hiring are on a rise without the desire to give laborers their rights and there is no concern for the improvement of workers' daily lives.
Currently, the workers have been subjected to labor rights violations. It is also reported that there are fewer people speaking out about their rights being violated, such as not getting overtime pay and not getting leaves and even though they have been working as day laborers for more than six months for a year because of the shortage of domestic jobs and the rise in commodity prices.
