By Thar Gyi - Jul 20, 2025
Workers at the Xing Run Myanmar garment factory have reported that child workers are being made to work daily overtime but are paid only half of what adult workers receive for attendance bonuses. They also stated that over 10 percent of the factory's workforce are child laborers.
“There are around 500 workers in the factory. About 60 of them are children. Most are in the sewing lines, with around ten more in other departments. They are only given day rates. We work 3 hours overtime until 7:30 PM., and the child workers also have to work until overtime ends. The factory pays just 7,800 kyats. The kids don’t even get half,” said a female sewing worker.
Adult workers receive a daily wage of 12,000 kyats and an overtime rate of 1,800 kyats, amounting to more than 17,000 kyats per day with 3 hours of overtime, according to workers. Nearly all child workers are considered helpers, yet they are subject to the same production targets and working hours as adult workers.
“Some child workers are made to trim threads and finish garments. They skip lunch just to catch up because they can’t meet their production targets,” a worker said.
Even adult workers don’t always get the full 12,000 kyats for daily wage. On Saturdays and Sundays, they’re paid only 7,800 kyats, including on public holidays, workers said.
“They only pay 7,800 kyats on Saturdays, Sundays, and even public holidays. Working hours are from 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM with overtime until 7:30 PM Monday through Friday. On Saturday, work lasts until 5:30 PM and on Sunday until 4:30 PM. We work more than 20 hours of overtime every week. We've been doing Sunday overtime since June,” they said.
Workers reported that they worked overtime on three Sundays and got only one day off the entire month in June. They also said they are made to work overtime both early in the morning and late at night.
“Overtime has continued from June through to July. This month alone, we’ve done overtime on two Sundays already. Sometimes night overtime starts at 12:30 AM we have to sew until 2:30 AM and if production is behind, basically crossing into the next day,” they said.
The factory operates six sewing lines, and two of them are regularly rotated for early morning overtime, according to workers. Due to the forced overtime, some workers have submitted complaints, but they said the factory responded with threats of cutting their pay.
“Supervisors say they’ll cut our garment pay if we don’t work overtime. That scares people, so they go along with it. They really do deduct. For example, we only receive 80,000 if we’re supposed to get 100,000 kyats,” said the workers.
Although there was a brief pause in overtime for about three days following complaints, workers said it resumed immediately afterward. They added that while the factory's drinking and dining facilities are adequate, the restroom facilities are poor and insufficient.
“Only two work out of four male toilets. Out of six female toilets, only three are usable. The rest are overflowing. You can’t use them. When we complain about overtime, the supervisors say they can fix anything with money. That’s how it always goes,” the workers said.
Xing Run Myanmar Co., Ltd. is located on Sayar San Road, Industrial Zone 2, Hlaingtharyar Township, Yangon, and is currently manufacturing the Japanese brand Noannu.
