By Min Ni Kyaw - Aug 11, 2024
Workers said that labor officers involved in the layoff of more than 40 child workers at the Sincere Season garment factory on the grounds that they are underage.
The factory locates at Mya Sein Yaung Industrial Zone, East of the Hlaing Thar Yar Township, Yangon and dismiss more than 40 workers from around 2,000 workers.
“The Staff Officer (Labor officer) arrived the factory around 5:00 p.m. and told them ‘You can work at other factories, tell me if they don’t hire you,’” the workers said.
According to the workers, they are forced to sign that they resigned on their consents. They said they were dismissed at the end of shift on August 7, 2024 and a woman whom is seemed to be a lawyer also presented.
“The Staff Officer came themselves and a lady whom is seemed to be a lawyer was also there. The factory gave us compensations and took us home with transportation bus. We were given 50,000 kyats each for arriving home late,” the workers said.
They continued that the reason they were dismissed in evening was not to be noticed by other people and they get their compensations at the end of the shift.
The dismissed workers have minimum 3 months to maximum 2 years of service at the factory and they were hired after interviewed by the HR manager of the factory.
“The HR manager is not fair. They hire the workers themselves knowing that they were underage. But immediately laid off the workers as soon as the news went viral saying that they are minors and they applied with fake NRCs,” a factory worker stated.
A labor activist commented that they want to question about the dismissal of the workers as the child labors can be hired with medical certificate according to the existing law.
“Hiring child labors depends on age and medical certificate. If a worker has medical certificate and physical strength and resilience adult-like capabilities can be hired according to the law,” they said. The workers were dismissed on August 7 and the labor officers visited the factory to inspect on August 8, 2024 due to overtime complaints.
But the workers said no one was asked questions
There is no details about Sincere season (Myanmar) Co.,Ltd’s investments in DICA’s data.
The factory is manufacturing PULL&BEAR, Sinsay, Amisu, Vero Moda with around 2,000 workers.
Myanmar Labour News posted a new item about the factory on August 3, 2024 regarding excessive overtime and not providing Employment Contracts to the workers.
According to the workers, the Bestsellers brand which was mentioned in the letter was a brand that the factory manufactured in few days ago.
