By Hsu Latt Phyu - Jul 31, 2024
Workers from Myanmar Haisheng garment factory which located at U Tun Nyo Street, Industrial Zone 3, Shwe Pyi Thar Township said that the factory is treating them without dignity, verbally abusing and install CCTV on in the toilet areas.
The factory is operating by more than 300 workers and manufacturing TIGORA, TERRANOVA, MACRON and TOPVALU brands kids and adults’ raincoats and female and male apparels.
There is a dispensary and nurse in the factory but there is no medicine in the dispensary.
“The dispensary is just for show and there is no medicines except creams. The toilets are not clean and the worst thing is CCTVs are installed in front of the toilets. The rains are leak from the roof and there is electro dangers during the rainy seasons,” the worker said.
They said that there are workers who have left the workplace and they are having a hard time because of not being allow a representative to take their wages. The worker said that only those who go to the labor office to file a complaint are get paid, and the wages of the rest of the workers are being exploited and their workers' rights and human rights are being violated.
The factory, which is owned by a Chinese national, does not have a trade union to resolve labor disputes, but the WCC was formed unilaterally by the employer.
It has been more than 2 years since the factory reopened after it was previously closed.
Working hours are from 8:00 am to 6:30 pm, including 2 hours of overtime. After a year of opening the factory, workers had to work 4 hours overtime from 7:30 a.m. to 8:10 p.m.
They also works on every Saturday from 7:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., and they are also called for overtime more than once a week for Sundays.
"They are calling overtime without surveying the workers’ consents. They don’t say the time for the overtime on the paper until we signed. The supervisors verbally abuse, pressurize and intimidate us to work overtime,” a worker said.
They are being asked for excessive fabric outputs in the factory more than they could sew and the verbal abuses of the supervisors makes them to work without dignity.
“They give us 6,800 kyats daily wages, attendance bonus 30,000 kyats, overtime wages 1,400 kyats per hour, 650 to 1,000 kyats per day for expert fees. The workers are not entitled to casual leave. We only get social security leave here but daily wages, half of the attendance bonus (for taking in the first half of the month) and the grade bonus are cut. They don’t allow us to leave and our salaries are cut,” the worker said.
The 10 days of annual leave was exchanged with wages in January 2022 but in 2024 the workers get neither.
“Workers are not satisfied with the annual leave. We don’t get any entitlements,” said a worker.
“The daily wage is 6,800 kyats but the overtime fee is only 1,400 kyats per hour. We want to get paid the overtime fees in accordance with the daily wages which should be 1,700 kyats per hour,” they said.
The workers are seeking for changes in the workplace and they are seeking for dignity. The facts they are requesting are -
1. To survey their consents for calling overtime and to not pressurize those who don’t want to
2. To give 1,700 kyats per hour for overtime and to give a breaktime before
3. The supervisors to not verbally abuse the sub-ordinates and to take actions upon who does it
4. To allow social security and casual leave
5. To give day off or equivalent wages for annual leaves
6. To provide medicines in the dispensary
7. To provide electric safety measures in the factory
8. To remove the CCTV in front of the toilets
9. To allow the resigned workers to take their remaining salaries by their representatives
