By Min Ni Kyaw - Dec 21, 2023
One of the aid members said that the two female workers were harmed by the decision of the Yangon regional arbitration board that did not accept the representatives of the two workers who were fired.
"During the inspection, the arbitration board accept the employer’s representative who was not a holder of a lawyer's certificate, neither is the manager nor who have a complete power of attorney. But the arbitration board did not accept the labor side’s official lawyer with a lawyer's license. How can the workers solve this? This is where the jury is biased. I just want to say that they are bullying the workers together with the businessmen," said a member of the support group.
The workshop and labor law inspection team inspected the garment factory of Myanmar Lucky Phoenix International Co., Ltd in No.135 Pyin Si Min Thar Kyi Road,Shwe Pyi Thar Industrial Zone (3) and Ma Saung Thazin telled the truth that they do not receive overtime wages upon inquires of whether they had received overtime pay, the factory fired her in November 19th.
Therefore, the two workers took steps to solve the problem, but because they could not find a solution, they presented it to the jury for a decision.
The employer's representative of the panel said that only authorized lawyers are allowed to participate in the settlement at the Yangon regional arbitration panel, so the two workers' representatives were interrogated one-sidedly without lawyers.
"When the decision was made, the request letter and the testimony of the township mediation team were thrown away and the decision was made to ask only the workers without a worker's representative. What I want to say is whether it is possible to make a fair decision without labor representative lawyers," said a member of the support group.
Although 2 workers asked for "interim compensation and reinstatement", the panel reviewed that the workers without a representative said "they will return to work only after paying interim compensation".
"After deciding, the jury reviewed that the workers will not return to work again if they don't get compensation for the interim period. Then, it is decided that there is no need to pay notice fee and interim damages for 2 workers including Daw Saung Thazin. They fired them for telling the truth about overtime wages. The problem is the factory’s problem. But the workers were fired and their wages suffered. At the tribunal, the representative representing the workers was not accepted and decided that there was no need to pay interim damages. How much do the workers suffer? Just think about it," he said.
As this decision was signed by three government department representatives, three business representatives and two labor representatives in the Yangon regional arbitration panel, labor activists said that the structure of the arbitration panel was also criticize able.
