By Thar Gyi - Jul 17, 2025

Workers at Yongon Fashion Myanmar (Yongon) garment factory said that only a minimal portion of their demands was granted after staging a work stoppage to demand wage increases and other improvements.

“We negotiated on Tuesday. Not much was raised at all. What we received was far less than what we demanded. Since time dragged on, workers became worried and had to accept it,” said the workers.

The workers had demanded an increase in daily wage to 12,000 kyats, grade bonus ranging from 100,000 kyats for the highest grade to 40,000 kyats for the lowest, a 4:00 p.m. end time every Saturday, a minimum of 70 kyats per garment, and an overtime rate of 2,200 kyats.

“After negotiations, the grade bonus increased only from 4,000 kyats for the highest to 2,000 kyats for the lowest. There was no increase at all in the daily wage and overtime pay. We did get the Saturday work hours changed to end at 4:00 p.m. instead of 6:30 p.m. For daily wages, we will now receive half in advance on the 15th and the rest after the 30th day of the month. They said garment pay will depend on the garment type,” the workers explained.

Negotiations concluded after five days of demands. Around 500 workers are employed at the factory, with about one-third participating in the demands.

Yongon Fashion Myanmar garment factory is located on Yawatwinwun U Phoehlaing Road, Shwe Lin Ban Industrial Zone, Yangon, and manufacturing the South Korean fashion brand UniBoss.