By Hsu Latt Phyu - Dec 19, 2023
At Sunrise Myanmar Fashion Garment, which operates with more than 1,000 workers, workers say that the factory is calling excessive overtimes and they face discrimination if they refuse to work overtime.
The worker said that it is difficult because they have to work 2 hours overtime in the regular working hours from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., and in these months they have to work overtime until 9:00 p.m. or 12:00 p.m without asking their desires.
"They scold me if I don’t work overtime because of family issue. I'm told that I won't be called the next day as others, and I'm not only called until 12:00 p.m., but on Sunday, when I have to take a day off, I'm called for more time and if I refuse, I'm discriminated against," said the worker, who did not want to be named.
The factory is located at 4 Kyauk Sein Road, Thar Dhu Kan Industrial Zone, Shwe Pyi Thar Township, Yangon Region, and is owned by a Chinese national.
It is reported that there is no labor union in the workplace, and there is no workplace coordination committee. The workers also said that the safety and health measures in the current workplace are weak and there is no solution, and the officials do not negotiate with the workers regarding the violations of the labor law.
It is also known that the factory is manufacturing international brands such as GLOBAL WORK, WOLLYTEC, CINEMA CLUB, HARE, LEPSIL,URBAL FUNCTION , SINCE 1930 UNITED ATHLA, FINO-OUT, LOWRYS FARM, AIRTHERMAL, wmb,CLOSSHI Biz, HK WORKS LONDON and SOLOTEX.
In the workplace, fabric records are being asked for more than they can sew, and although they are constantly sewing to meet the standards they set. Their bonuses are cut for various reasons, and if the fabric records are not met, next month's bonus is also cut, said by a worker who is unsatisfied to the leaders’ mistreatments.
The rights of day laborers in the workplace are also being violated, and a day laborer only gets 4,800 kyats per day and overtime pay, and the same goes for weekends. He said that day laborers are not entitled to the 1,000 kyats stipule raised by the Ministry of Labor.
“I would also like to speak for the day laborers. Day laborers have no rights. They work for only 4,800 a day. They are fired without any compensation if there are few tasks and if they don’t like them anymore" said one worker.
"I have to work overtime every day, and can't take day off even for health and family issues, etc. I want to ask for all of these things, but due to the current political situation, I'm not allowed to, so I reported to the labor office. The officials came to the office and met with the employer and then went back. Nothing has changed but we are working overtime until 00:00,” said a worker.
They also said that they are not allowed to enjoy leave. They need to have the signatures of 4 people, to take a leave, so they are facing difficulties. And missing a day cause discriminations and warning. Only supers can enjoy leaves but not the other workers.
The workers said that they want to request to ask their desires upon calling overtime and let the workers who don’t want to work leave, not to reduce grade bonus and to provide ferries for those who work overtime.
Furthermore, they said that they also want to request the officials to ask only the possible fabric targets, not to reduce fabric bonus, to settle negotiations, to allow leave with only the signatures of 2 people, not to reduce grade bonus for taking leave, not to yell in the workplace, to appoint the day laborers as permanent, to give equal rights to all workers and not to discriminate.
