By Ma Ma - Dec 30, 2024
Workers from Mai Yi Bei Garment Manufacturing Co., Ltd are being called in for substitution work on designated days for holidays, and they have been warned that their wages will not be paid if they cannot comply with the employer's assigned dates, according to factory workers.
This factory, owned by a Chinese national, employs over 1,200 workers.
The factory produces clothing for brands such as ORIGINAL MARINES and ALCOTT, but operates without a trade union, leading to rights violations in the workplace.
“Since December, they have substituted December 29, 30, 31, and January 1 as holidays, but instead of replacing those holidays with alternative days off, they forced us to work on January 5 (the payday) and Sunday as overtime substitution days.
The employer issued notices and forced workers to sign agreements under threat that wages would not be paid if they refused to work on the assigned days. Workers were threatened with non-payment of wages unless they signed when they objected, saying they could not work on those days,” said one worker. “They also force us to work overtime on Sundays without pay if we don’t meet their production targets,” the worker added.
At the factory, workers receive a combined daily wage of 7,800 kyats, including attendance bonuses and allowances, and an overtime rate of 1,500 kyats. Workers who complete a full week of work are paid an additional 10,000 kyats weekly and are eligible for a piece-rate bonus.
However, due to the employer’s refusal to grant legally mandated leave, workers face deductions of about 30,000 kyats for each day of absence.
“There are more than 60 workers on each line. The production target is more than 40 pieces per line per hour. Supervisors scold us harshly and rudely when production targets aren’t met. we’re forced to work unpaid overtime, including late-night shifts and Sundays if that happens. We’ve also raised complaints about overcrowded ferries, but nothing has been done. We are required to pay a fine of 1,000 kyats if we don’t clock in using the scanner, and when we leave, the scanning machines are often grouped together, making it difficult for us. The toilets are dirty, and many of the doors are broken,” the worker added.
The workers are demanding the right to legally mandated leave, an end to harassment and verbal abuse over production targets, solutions to overcrowded ferry conditions, realistic production targets that workers can meet and to stop coercing them into signing agreements for substitution days and unpaid overtime on late-night shifts and Sundays.
