By Ma Ma - Feb 24, 2025
Workers at the Chinese-owned He Met Company Limited report that they are not granted medical leave despite contributing to social security. Additionally, the factory does not fully provide the financial assistance mandated by the military council for workers, leaving them in financial hardship.
The factory, located on Twin Thin Thike Wun U Tun Nyo Road, next to the EPC office, Alal village, Hlaing Thar Yar Township, employs over 1,000 workers.
There is no trade union within the workplace, and various violations are taking place while the factory produces garments for brands such as MAKE TODAY AMAZING, Pageone, and JEAN PASCALE.
"The factory does not grant workers medical leave, annual leave, bereavement leave, or special leave. We do not receive medical leave benefits even though we contribute to social security every month. 6,800 kyats for attendance bonus and 20,000 kyats for daily wages are deducted if we takes a day off. We receive only 1,000 kyats, which is far below the official requirement. Even this amount is only paid on the 10th of the following month," said a factory worker.
Production quotas are also unreasonably high, with a 55-person sewing line expected to complete over 40 pieces per hour. Supervisors verbally abuse workers if they fail to meet these production targets, workers claim.
The factory heavily relies on daily wage workers, and those who have worked for six months are not granted permanent contracts. Additionally, underage workers are reportedly forced to perform the same tasks as adult workers.
"Workers are also forced to buy factory ID cards out of their own pockets. Supervisors collect condolence money for funerals without worker consent. While the funeral fund is voluntary, the money collected for celebrations is mandatory. Workers contribute whatever they can in some sewing lines, but in others, each worker is forced to pay 10,000 kyats. Many workers cannot afford this amount, so it is deducted from their wages. The factory owners organize these events with their own money, yet they force workers to contribute. A worker injured his hand while using a sewing machine recently but the employer did not take responsibility for the injury. Instead, they illegally terminated him after he took three days off to recover," another worker reported.
Due to these workplace violations, factory workers have reached out to the Industrial Workers Federation of Myanmar (IWFM) for assistance.
Workers are demanding underage workers should not be assigned the same tasks as adult workers, supervisors should stop forcing workers to contribute money for celebrations, injured workers should not be fired but instead given proper compensation, unrealistic production targets should not be imposed and supervisors should stop verbal abuse when demanding higher productivity
