By Mu Dra - Jul 22, 2025
Workers at the Shwe Myinn Co., Ltd Washing Fact laundry factory located on Nawaday Min Gyi Road, Shwe Lin Ban Industrial Zone, Hlaingtharyar Township, Yangon Region, have reported being forced to work under threats and subjected to workplace violations, according to complaints submitted to the Myanmar Industrial Workers Federation of Myanmar (IWFM).
The factory, reportedly owned by a Chinese citizen, employs over 100 workers. Workers are reportedly forced to handle chemicals without being provided gloves or masks at Shwe Myinn Co., Ltd Washing Fact. Furthermore, they face intimidation to not report these unsafe and illegal conditions to outside parties.
“This factory has previously been exposed in media for workplace difficulties and violations. In response to those media posts, factory managers ordered internal clerks and even relatives of the workers to comment under the posts claiming that nothing was wrong inside the factory. They also summoned all workers and instructed them to say everything was fine in case of inspections and that the reports were false. They warned that unless we followed these instructions, the factory would shut down and we’d all lose our jobs,” said one factory worker.
Further workplace violations at Shwe Myinn Co., Ltd Washing Fact include the employment of underage youth aged 14 and 15. These young workers are hired and kept as day-wage labourers for up to three months without being granted full employee status, denying them their full labour rights and leaving them subject to wage deductions and abuses.
“Young and underage workers are paid 6,800 kyats in daily wage during the 3-month probation period. They are not made permanent staff and are still forced to continue working under the same terms even after working for 3 months. When some workers tried to speak up after learning their rights, the manager threatened them, saying that employing underage workers was their doing and that they could get the police involved if they wanted. They told us not to insult their goodwill. The factory has just over 100 workers, but instead of hiring more, they continue to rotate existing staff across all departments. Work hours are from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM or even 8:00 PM, and recently, some are made to work until midnight,” said another staff member.
Due to ongoing labour rights violations and extended overtime until 8:00 PM, workers often return home very late, as only one truck is provided to transport everyone. In some cases, workers are made to work until midnight, and due to unsafe night travel, some are forced to sleep on-site wherever they can. Lack of sleeping space, exhaustion, and poor rest lead to continued work the next day without proper sleep. Moreover, team leaders heavily side with management, blindly following the manager’s words and disregarding workers’ concerns. It leads to resentment and poor treatment if a worker dares to explain even minor work-related issues to a team leader. Workers expressed the urgent need for these issues to be addressed.
To ensure workplace justice, workers have presented the following demands:
- Underage youth workers aged 14 and 15 must not be forced to work in equal conditions alongside adult workers.
- Factory managers must cease threatening and intimidating workers during meetings.
- More workers must be hired instead of overburdening current staff due to labour shortages in the factory.
- Workers must not be forced to work overtime until 8:00 PM or midnight.
- Labor inspectors must not only speak with the workers selected by the employer if they visit the factory.
- Managers must stop forcing workers to post false comments and misinformation due to employer pressure.
