By Min Ni Kyaw - Dec 15, 2023
Garment workers in the industrial zone said that their income become low due to the reduction of the set sewing fee (ticket fee).
A machine line supervisor said that some of the garment factories in the country have reduced the wages to one-third, so the workers' income become low.
"Before the coup, they paid 2,400 kyats as sewing fees per garment, But only 750 kyats now. We only got a third. It had to be divided between 40 workers on the machine line. It’s a very low cost. The salary is also low. It's about the same as other wage workers." He said.
In addition, if there are many orders, the factory often reduces the sewing fee.
She continued to say that during the rule of the civilian government, the wages of sewing a garment went from a t minimum of 2,200 kyats to a maximum of 3,200 kyats.
The minimum wage in the country is set at 4,800 Kyats per day, and the income of a garment worker is just over 200,000 Kyats, including overtime wages and increased allowances.
"Some facroties that use ticket system do not pay wages for the weekend. They pay only for 26 days. Most of them pay a reduced fee. From the ticket fee, daily wages and overtime wages are already deducted. Some factories do not deduct but raise the fabric standard and reduced the fee per fabric. So, the wages becomes low and the workers earn less," said the supervisor.
Most of the workers said that the garment fee system is different from ordinary garment workers, and they are working under the pressure of hourly demands. Due to the reduction of the ticket fee, workers said that they are only focusing to complete daily tasks and to sew the number of clothes demanded.
"As the sewing cost is low, we have to sew to meet the standards requested by the factory. It would be paid equally only if we meet those. We can pay living expenses for a month only if we have income. Low income means many difficulties and tiring. To solve these, the wages of clothing and overtime should be raised. It's to set a standard for fair clothing," she said.
Currently, the minimum wage set by Myanmar is very different compared to neighboring countries, and workers' wages are also enormously low, according to labor activists.
