By Min Ni Kyaw - May 19, 2025

Workers from the Tsang Yih shoe factory, which produces footwear for the Adidas brand, said today that they are continuing their demands after the factory only increased their wages by 900 kyats, falling short of their original request.

“They gave much less than what we asked for. We can’t even buy two eggs with 900 kyats. All the workers are continuing to demand. That’s all I can say for now,” one worker said.

The workers at the Tsang Yih shoe factory began their wage raise demands inside the workplace on May 14. Following that, officials from the labour office, factory management, and worker representatives held negotiations on May 17. On May 18, the workers who had been protesting were given leave, and nine worker representatives continued discussions. The factory later released a statement saying that an agreement had been reached in front of labour office officials.

“We believe the worker representatives were pressured into agreeing without informing or consulting the rest of us. The factory acted without any communication with the protesting workers. Now they have shut down the factory to keep workers away. We’re continuing our demands to get what we originally asked for,” workers said.

Although the workers had requested a total wage of 12,000 kyats, the factory only offered 8,500 kyats. Labour activists noted that while other CMP factories are paying a minimum of 10,000 kyats, the globally recognized Adidas factory is trying to pay the lowest possible wage.

It is also learned that workers from Myanmar Pou Chen, another Adidas manufacturing factory in the Thadukan Industrial Zone, have requested an increase in daily wages to 13,000 kyats and are currently in negotiations.

More than 6,200 workers are employed at the Tsang Yih Footwear factory, which is located in the Anawrahta Industrial Zone (Section 2), near Apyinpadan Ward, Hlaing Thar Yar Township, Yangon.