By Hsu Latt Phyu - Dec 23, 2023
At the NISHO (2) factory which manufacture HanGTen brand warm clothes, which was opened at Hla Theingi Street, Shwe Lin Ban Industrial Zone, Hlaing Thayar Township, around 250 workers said that they would like to ask for a day off as they have been working for a month without a day off, and their health have been affected.
Although they complained to the Department of Labor Relations that they had to work overtime without a day off, but nothing changed although they came to inspect it.
The factory is owned by a Chinese national. Despite operating with a workforce of over 250, there is no trade union or workplace coordination committee in the workplace.
"Working hours are from 7:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Overtime is until 8 p.m. every day. There is no day off for this whole month. They don't ask for the consent of the workers. We always have to work all night. I want them to tell us in advance if they want us to work overtime. But for now, they didn't tell us in advance, but they called us right away and forced us to sign agreements by pressure," the worker said.
In addition to being forced to work overtime continuously, they are also forced to work on Sundays, which is a public holiday, and continuing to work non-stop on the following Monday. The workers said that they suffered from lack of sleep, health problems and illnesses. Workers are forced to work continuously with no rest period for overtime, and workers are not entitled to casual leave and other benefits.
"Regarding the issue of leave, workers who understand labor rights have the right to enjoy them. Some workers who don't understand can't. If we take a day off due to health damage of continuous work, a daily wage of 5,800 kyats and the attendance bonus of 10,000 will be cut. So, the total amount of cut 15,800 kyats. Professional levels are also degraded such as A grader to B grade despite having to work A grade tasks,” said the worker.
According to the workers, day laborers with 6 months to a year of experience are suffering as they are not appointed as permanent workers.
There are many day laborers with 6 months to a year of service. They can’t enjoy social security and leaves as they are hired only as day laborers. Many of them are professional workers. Those are hired after 6 months but fired again by the reasons of no orders. They are violating in several ways,” a worker from workplace explain the situation about the day laborers.
As a violation of workers' rights in the workplace, they ask for more fabric targets than a worker can sew, and demand up to 70 fabrics per hour and they often shout rudely and assault them if the workers do not get the full target.
In addition to the above slanders in the workplace, there is also a lack of occupational safety and health issues, medical care, fire safety, clean toilets, safety in all night working days and inspection upon the factory rules.
It is also known from the workers that they want to appeal to ask their consents and to notice in advance upon calling overtime, to make Sundays off day, to appoint permanently for those with 6 months to a year of service, not to yell and swear within the workplace, to fix the toilets and to provide safety measures in the workplace.
