By Ma Ma - Dec 21, 2024
Workers at Chinese national-owned Wonderful Apparel Co., Ltd. report that the company fails to fully pay the daily wages stipulated for them and unlawfully dismisses workers who refuse to work overtime.
The factory, located on Han Steel Power Road in Myaung Dagar Industrial Zone, Hmawbi Township, operates with over 240 workers and produces Korean brand TRSLLKIDS apparel orders.
Workers report that no trade union has been formed at the factory, and there are ongoing violations of labor rights as stipulated by law.
“We are only paid 8,000 MMK for daily allowances and 20,000 MMK for attendance bonuses. The wages are low, but the workload demands are unreasonable. Each sewing line only has 19 workers, and each operator has to sew from two to three points per garment. They demand production of 120 pieces per hour. The line supervisors scold us if we fail to meet their target. They don’t inform us in advance about overtime, and workers are made to work until dawn without even signing off on it. We’re immediately fired we refuse to work overtime. The factory manager also arbitrarily dismisses workers she doesn’t like. Just the other day, about 11 workers were let go. They are firing workers as they please, violating the law,” said one worker.
Workers contribute to social security but are not allowed to take sick leave or receive related benefits. Complaints made to the relevant township social security officials have not resulted in any solutions. According to workers, sick leave, casual leave, and annual leave as per the labor law are not granted. Workers lose not only their daily wage but also their attendance bonus if they are absent for a day.
“We have daily-wage workers at the factory who’ve worked for over three months but are not made permanent employees. There are also underage workers hired without medical certification. These young workers are treated the same as adult workers. Older and more experienced workers don’t apply here due to low pay grades. On top of that, the toilets are unhygienic, and there aren’t even water buckets in the toilet stalls. Despite all the violations by management, labor authorities’ inspections have not resulted in any improvements. Instead, the factory owner keeps pushing the limits and worsening conditions,” a worker explained.
Currently, workers are appealing to the Industrial Workers Federation of Myanmar (IWFM) for support in addressing ongoing violations and for assistance in resolving issues at the factory.
Workers are calling for reasonable production targets that they can realistically meet, supervisors and line leaders to refrain from scolding workers when setting production targets, overtime work to be requested only with the workers’ consent, and not to force overtime until dawn, workers not to be fired for refusing overtime, the Chinese female factory manager to refrain from directly managing workers and roper sanitation and cleanliness in the factory toilets, with management taking responsibility for ensuring these conditions.
