By Min Ni Kyaw - Jul 15, 2024
Workers from Tha Shu (Myanmar) Glory Fashion Co.,Ltd which located at Than Lwin Street, Shwe Than Lwin Industrial Zone, Hlaing Thar Yar Township said that the factory is forcing them to work excessive overtime including on holidays such as Saturdays and Sundays.
“They forced us to work until 6:00 pm yesterday (July 14th). Workers are exhausted and some are sicked,” the workers said.
The workers also said that they have been working on Sundays for two consecutive weeks. The factory asked them to work overtime until 8:30 p.m. every day. They are being forced to work on Saturdays and Sundays and forced to work the overtime limits which exceeds the 20 hours of overtime allowed by the Ministry of Labor. The total overtime of Tha Shu (Myanmar) garment workers is almost 40 hours per hour.
“The overtime is until 8:00 p.m. everyday and until 4:00 p.m. or 6:00 p.m. on Saturdays and until 6:00 p.m. on Sundays. We are really tired and there is no time for us to eat and sleep,” a worker explained.
Workers said they work until 8:30 p.m. since after the lunch and get 10 minutes break only during the period and they don’t get any break time if the overtime is until 7:30 p.m. only.
Chapter 7 of the Workshops Act of 1951 (amended on January 21, 2016), Section 63 (Working hours of adults) which is currently in force in Myanmar states "When determining the working periods of adult workers in the workshop on each day, no period shall exceed five hours. Furthermore, no worker shall be made to work more than five consecutive hours before having a break of at least half an hour.”
Article 85 stipulates that if convicted of violating this section, the manager and owner will be imprisoned for 3 months or fine not less than 2,000,000 kyats or both punishments will be imposed. It is also mentioned that the fine will be 100,000 kyats per day if continue to violate.
Tha Shu (Myanmar) Glory Fashion Co.,Ltd is owned by a Chinese national and manufacturing Mohito and Defacto brands with around 1,400 workers. Workers said there are discriminations by the manager and some supervisors.
“Supers from Line 1,2,3 and 4 are the worst of all. The manager and all super as well. They treated very well to the machine lines which is close to them but verbally abuse the ones that aren’t,” workers said.
The workers said that male and female labor officers came to inspect the factory after Myanmar Labour News had reported on the verbal abuses, heat and cold unbalancing, impurified drinking water and narrow dinning spaces.
There were no changes in the factory even though such inspections were conducted. The Ministry of Labor did not take any action. After this, the Tha Shu (Myanmar) Garment factory has started recruiting more than the legal overtime hours stated by the Ministry of Labor.
