By Myo Thein - Aug 29, 2025
Workers from Jian Yi Garment Company Limited reported to the Industrial Workers Federation of Myanmar (IWFM) that the factory refuses to provide legal leave entitlements, claiming it's a newly opened factory. However, Myanmar labour law officially allows workers to access leave even during probation.
“They say the factory just opened recently, so they won’t give leave. No casual leave or sick leave are given. If we miss a day because we didn’t get leave, they deduct 11,000 MMK in daily wage and 40,000 MMK in attendance bonus. If we’re unwell and take rest, when we come back, they say ‘Don’t come to work if you're unwell,’” they said.
Workers also said if they clock in late due to emergencies or sickness and request a gate pass, the factory counts all those hours and deducts the entire attendance bonus. Their working hours are from 8:00 AM to 6:30 PM, but they are required to start working 10 minutes before the shift begins.
“They make us start work 10 minutes before 8:00 AM. In the evening, we have to scan our face for attendance. They say they’ll deduct our wages if we don’t line up one minute before 6:30 PM. The factory steals 10 minutes in the morning and deducts for being a minute late at the end,” they said.
The factory reportedly imposes unrealistic production targets that exceed what workers can reasonably sew. In each sewing line, 28 workers are assigned, but only 25 are sewing, according to the workers.
“There are 28 skilled sewing workers per line, but only 25 are sewing. The daily target is 800 pieces and that's 80 per hour. But each worker is sewing about 32 pieces a day. There are no helpers in the line. They make the sewing operators do helper work too, including ironing. When we can’t meet the target, the line manager shouts at us,” they said.
Workers also said they’re threatened with grade penalties if they don’t meet the target. Drinking water at the workplace comes directly from pipes exposed to the sun, and the cups are tied with strings, so they end up drinking hot water, they added.
“We have to submit a resignation letter a week in advance if we want to quit because the work isn’t manageable. If we don’t, they only settle 6,800 MMK of daily wage and 1,200 MMK for overtime. If we do submit a letter, they still make us work until the end of the month before settling full wages,” said the workers.
Jian Yi Garment Company Limited is located on Min Ayar Road, Hlaingtharyar Township, Yangon. It produces garments for the Sinsay and ERC brands. The factory is Chinese citizen-owned and employs over 100 workers.
