By Min Ni Kyaw - May 24, 2024
Workers from New Talent Garment (Myanmar) Co.,Ltd said that they are working with the boiler smoke odors in the factory B where they start boiler smoke more than 5 times a month.
“We smell odors when they start the fire. The smokes even look like fog in the factory,” a worker said.
Factory B is a three-story building, and the sewing place is on the top floor. It is said that there are 10 machine lines on that floor and around 400 workers are working. The workers said that they are constantly suffering from suffocation and dizziness due to the smoke and fumes.
"The smoke looks like a fog, so we had to go to the hospital due to suffocation and dizziness. The factory does not provide masks. There are no more clinics and nurses, so they have to pay their own way to the welfare clinic. We have to carry a bottle of respirator. I was also forced to work because I couldn't afford to visit clinic anymore," said a worker.
The workers said that the drinking water is not clean and contained particles and having odors due to keeping near the toilet.
"There are two places where we can drink water. We had to drink in a bottle from a pipe that passed through the toilet somewhere. The Chinese are also washing their hands there. The next place is the HR office. The water is sedimented," they said of the drinking water situation.
The workers also said that the number of workers who quit their jobs is up to a few hundred in a year as some New Talent Garment supers verbally abuse them.
“A pregnant female worker felt unwell when she arrived at work. She get up and vomit. As this happens, she told the Super to change the fabric point. But they don’t. The female resigned the next day. Some male workers are resigned after verbally abused,” the worker said. It is known the line 4 super verbally abuse them in rudest ways.
A pregnant worker who submitted a resignation letter as super did not give her a gate pass also suffered a miscarriage while waiting for her resignation letter.
The workers also said that justice was not served because the labor officials selected only 3 workers from the factory to inquire about the incident.
There are more than 1,000 workers working at the two building of the New Talent Garment factory owned by Chinese nationals and the factory locates at Own Nae Kone Village, Hleku Township, Yangon region and the workers are manufacturing socks and jackets.
