By Yoon Satt - Feb 02, 2024
It is reported that S-M Myanmar Garment factory from Shwe Than Lwin Industrial Zone (4), Hlaing Thar Yar Township is forcing the workers to work overtime for free. The factory is a Chinese national owned factory which is manufacturing House brand jackets with more than 400 workers.
The factory set the professional levels of the workers by wages; 70,000 kyats for A+, 50,000 kyats for A, 30,000 kyats for B, 20,000 for C but the workers said that they have damages as the real proficient workers aren’t get paid higher but those who are confident and tolerate to the supers get paid and biasing upon paying the professional fees.
Furthurmore, they are not entitiled to legal casual, social security and medical leaves and total 25,800 kyats (daily wages 5,800 kyats and attendance bonus 20,000 kyats) are cut if they miss a day of work as they are not allowed to take leaves. Some workers even cut for the professional fees.
The all supers and supers are consistently asking the impossible fabric outputs from the workers which a cavity with more than 40 workers have to give 35 fabric per hour and a single worker to handle two to three points as the currently manufacturing fabrics have many points. The employer asks fabric output without considering the absent population and the all supers and supers are verbally abusing too.
The all supers and supers force freetime on public holidays and Sundays with the reasons to finish the fabric and the workers have to work as they aren’t dare to complaint the supers and all supers although they don’t want to work.
Around 50 day laborers are not appointed as permanent although they have more than 3 months of service and they been forced as soon as the orders become low.
A workers said “The factory gave 1 lakh kyats and fired the worker who had to take orthopedic treatment as they injured their hand while working in the factory. They are a day laborer who just have a service for a month,”
The worker said that they want to request to employ the day laborers with more than 3 months of service permanently, not to force overtime for free, not to pressurize to work overtime, not to bias in giving professional fees, to ask only the possible fabric amount and to provide purified water as the current water have petrichor.
