By Mu Dra - Jul 30, 2025

Workers at NEW ZHONG HUI Co., Ltd., located on Seik Kan Thar Road, Plot No. –, Shwe Lin Ban Industrial Zone, Hlaing Tharyar Township, Yangon Region, say they are being forced to do excessive overtime and are not granted medical leave, despite having social security contributions deducted from their salaries. As a result, they are facing hardship and losses, they said.

NEW ZHONG HUI Co., Ltd. is a Chinese citizen-owned factory employing over 700 workers, producing jackets and winter garments for the Sinsay brand.

Workers said the employer does not grant casual leave or medical leave, and when leave is taken, the factory deducts 10,000 kyats from daily wage plus subisdy, and 40,000 kyats from attendance bonus — with an additional 5,000 kyats cut from the skill bonus. The full attendance bonus is deducted if a worker misses two days within a month, they said.

Workers said they are not issued social security cards and are not allowed to access medical benefits although they contribute monthly to the social security system.

“Daily wage workers are selected without proper contracts in cases of wage manipulation. When workload slows, the employer terminates them without legal procedures. Daily workers are paid only 6,800 kyats including daily wage and subsidy. Helpers also receive only 6,800 kyats. No pay is given for public holidays. We work from 8:00 AM to 11:30 AM, break for lunch, and resume at 12:00 PM. We have to work until 8:30 or 9:30 PM if the factory calls it urgent. These conditions are causing us hardship,” many workers at NEW ZHONG HUI Co., Ltd. said.

They added that unreasonable garment targets are being set — with each sewing line consisting of around 40 workers expected to complete 35 coded jackets per hour. Supervisors and line leaders scold them and create pressure if they fail to meet the quota required by the employer. Workers have filed a request for assistance with the Industrial Workers Federation of Myanmar (IWFM) due to repeated violations and worker grievances.

The workers’ demands to the employer include:

1. The employer must stop assigning overnight overtime, especially extended shifts on Saturdays until 8:00 PM, and no overtime on Sundays.
2. The employer must stop setting excessive garment quotas that workers cannot reasonably complete.
3. The employer must allow workers to take their entitled casual leave and medical leave.
4. The employer must end unlawful terminations of daily workers and stop underpaying the daily wage.
5. The employer must address the lack of sufficient, clean, and odor-free toilets for workers.
6. The employer must not require overnight overtime work on paydays and release workers at 4:00 PM.