By Min Ni Kyaw - Oct 29, 2024
It has been reported that male workers at the Myanmar QI Yuan Garment factory are subjected to verbal abuse and are not granted permanent employee status. Male workers are often assigned to tasks such as standing jobs in addition to sewing work.
"All supervisors and line supervisors don’t differentiate between male and female workers anymore. They shout at us in front of the women, and that’s embarrassing for us. Many men end up resigning because of this. Actually, the garment factory couldn’t operate without male workers," one female worker explained.
Although the male workers receive the same daily wages and other benefits, their grading pay scale is set at the lowest rate. Additionally, the factory does not provide them with seniority allowances they are not regular permanent employees.
"The grade never goes above C level for male workers. Even then, only a few get it. Seniority bonuses are given once a year, but they don’t get paid as they are day laborers but their social security fees are cut " added a female worker.
Despite monthly deductions for social security, workers say they receive no membership cards or other proof, resulting in a loss of associated benefits. Workers also reported that they had to work overtime until midnight once in two days from June to the end of September,
"We can’t go back home after the mid night overtime. We have to sleep at work and use red-colored water for washing and bathing. They provided only two tiny bars of soap. We end up pooling money to buy extra soap. There is no dispensary in the factory, and we are often given ineffective traditional remedies when we request medicine. Workers have to pool money to buy necessary medications," a female worker mentioned.
Workers are only provided 1,000 kyats for meals for mid-night overtime, which is insufficient, leading the workers to request a raise in September. This resulted in an increase but as of October, there are no longer any mid-night overtime.
"There are no more mid-night overtime but we’ve had to work until 7 PM since last week. One hour of those time is deducted as substitute for future holidays, which are supposedly November 1, 2, and 3. They made us work like this during the Thadingyut holiday too," a worker said.
Workers also reported that they are fined 500 kyats per item for each qualitied failed garments. The fines are collected strictly, and workers do not know how the money is used.
"Daily wage, grade bonus and attendance bonus 50,000 kyats are all deducted for taking gate pass. We are cut 50% for taking gate pass after 2:00 pm and 100% after 4:00 pm. In total, we lose around 100,000 kyats. They’ve set up various barriers to discourage gate pass applications," another worker reported.
Underage male and female workers are reportedly required to work on a daily wage basis without any breaks and work continuously until their overtime hours are complete.
"We don’t get any break time, not even for a quick bathroom break. Supervisors would yell at us they hold grudges and treat us poorly if we complaint. Even during mid-night overtime, there’s no break; we have to keep sewing without a break until the overtime hours are over," they shared.
Many fans in the factory are reportedly unusable, leading to extreme heat, and emergency exits are obstructed with equipment, creating unsafe working conditions.
The Myanmar QI Yuan Garment CO., LTD (Factory 2), owned by a Chinese national, employs around 600 workers and is located on Than Chat Wun U Nyunt Road, East Hlaing Tharyar Township, Industrial Zone 1, Yangon. Factory 1 is located near Pan Hlaing Golf Course Road, Nyaung Ward, Industrial Zone 1.
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