By Yoon Satt - Jan 11, 2024
According to the workers, there are cuts in professional fees in the garment factories in Yangon's industrial zones without telling the reasons. The workers said that their cut professional fees are much lesser than compare to what they received prior to November 2023.
"The factory's professional fees have been reduced almost the half. The income of each worker decreased by 1/3 for that. It was still convenient when we got 4,800 kyats. Now the salary is very low even if the subsidy is included. It doesn’t cover the expenses and we can’t support our families anymore," said a worker from Jiashihao (Myanmar).
At the Gysen-1 (Myanmar) Apparel Co., Ltd factory in War Ta Yar Industrial Zone, which employs around 800 workers, the expert fee was raised to 30,000 kyats, but the current expert fee has been cut for 25,000 kyats and only 5,000 kyats is being paid, a worker told the Solidarity of Trade Unions Myanmar STUM.
The worker has been working at the Finishing Iron position for almost 5 years and received 15,000 kyats for professional fees in 2019 when he started working. He received up to 30,000 kyats as an expert fee after 2 years of service but the expert fee was cut and he received only 15,000 kyats after next 5 months. The worker said that on January 1 of this year, the expert fee was cut by another 10,000 kyats for unknown reasons, so he was only earning 5,000 kyats.
"According to the labor laws, the reason for the cut must be presented for cutting the worker’s benefits. There is no right to cut the benefit that the worker is already receiving for no reason. They have to give it back according to the payment of wages act by the office of labor guidance.
The workers said that their current professional fees are cut after the Ministry of Labor announced in October to provide 1,000 kyats allowance.
"Some cut the professional fee for 5,000 or 10,000 kyats and some entrepreneurs stopped paying at all," said a garment worker.
The workers whose wages have been cut said that they are facing difficulties as their set benefits are reduced in addition to the exorbitant increasement of the commodity prices after the military coup,
