By Min Ni Kyaw - May 03, 2024
Workers from Bago based Vic song- Myanmar footwear Co.,Ltd said that they are having to dine in the same place with livestock goats due to insufficient dinning place.
“The dinning room fits only around 800 workers. Some have to eat on the grass and in the factory for the lunch and even in the way to toilet. But the goats come to the dinning room and the grass field. People and animals eating in the same place and the waste of the goats make us very uncomfortable. It gives us anxiety while the weather is too hot,” a female worker said.
Vic song- Myanmar footwear factory hires more than 2,000 workers and manufacturing Soliver and Gs brands fabrics. The factory close for a short period at February and reopen at May every year.
“They hire many people at August due to high orders which starts at September and the dinning place is not sufficient since then. We only get paid 40 percent when the factory is closed. The senior worekrs are get fully paid but cut from their annual bonus,” a worker said.
The factory dismiss some junior workers during the closure period without compensations by telling them initially that the factory is close and inform them that they are dismissed in the next day.
“The factory doesn’t want to give compensation and the dismissal happens every year,” a worker said.
The dismissed workers are rehired but most of the people who applied are new ones. The workers address their damages to the labor office every year but no one came to help.
“There is no employment contract for the workers,” a worker said.
The working hours are from 7:30 to 4:30 but they have to start 15 minutes earlier than that. And the 1 hour of dinning time is also granted only half an hour. The workers are told that they will paid for that but actually they don’t.
‘They called us to come 15 minutes earlier every morning for meeting. Workers haven’t finish their lunches at that time. The meeting last only 5 minutes but workers can’t have a breakfast after that, Some even faint in the workplace. But some eat on the ferry bus. They exploit us 10 minutes to work earlier and half an hour of the lunch time but we do not get paid for that,” they said.
The super visors tell them that they do not get paid for the half an hour due to not finishing the fabric demands and intimidate them to leave if they don’t like. Some supervisors are verbally abusing the workers and workers don’t get a break time since 12:30 to 6:30 and have to work consistently for 6 hours.
“They cut 500 kyats if we finger print a minute earlier after the work. Some are cut around 5,000 every month as they aim to get a chair in the transportation bus. Workers have many damages according to their cuts and exploits,” a worker explained.
The factory doesn’t have fully functionated clinic to treat workplace accidents and the security stuffs and leaders ask the workers who go to clinic if they are buying time.
“There are no medicines in the clinic which is far away from the factory. The nurse and leaders also told us not to come to the clinic outside of the working hours. It makes us very reluctance to visit the clinic,” workers explained their damages.
The workers told Myanmar Labour News that the factory intimidate both the dismissed workers and those who don’t work overtime. They are cut for the absent days even through they worked every single day of the month when the order are raising.
Vic song- Myanmar footwear Co.,Ltd locates at near the Hsin Phyu Kwin Street, Bago City Bypass Road.
