"If they try to form a trade union, they are fired and suffer from workplace violations", 12 January 2023

Garment factory workers said that the leaders of the trade union organized in the workplace...were fired after the military coup, and the rest of the labor leaders had to flee, thus suppressing labor rights movements in the workplace.

Workers of TOP Line Global Co, Ltd said that they are facing difficulties due to the fact that union leaders are being fired in the workplace, many day laborers are being forced to strike frequently in the workplace, and they are threatening to fire them in the workplace.

The factory, which sews Selene and SMOG brand underwear...is said to have opened on Si Shan Road, Hlaing Thayar Shwe Lin Van Industrial Zone, Yangon Region. It is reported that the company...operates with around 600 workers.

Currently, there is no trade union in the workplace...

"The employer will only pay 5,000 to the workers who were hurt on the job, and if they are not satisfied, they will quit," said a worker from the workplace who did not want to be named.

The oppressed worker said that if there is a violation of labor rights in the workplace, they try to solve it by forming a labor organization, so the employer does not accept it in any way, and they only solve it by firing them.

"They reorganized for the 3rd time, and fired them for no reason. They mainly fired the leaders. They protested because they couldn't bear it, and the water was cut for three or four days. If something didn't work well, they told me to go to work and fire them," said the worker.

As workers working in the workplace, they face unbearable insults and scoldings every day, and there is no guarantee of job permanence...

Last December 27, 2022, after protesting because of inconveniences in the workplace, officials from the Ministry of Labor, along with the police and soldiers, came and told them to rehire the workers who were fired for the protest.

After that, all the workers involved in the protest were slapped and informed that if they do it again, they will be fired without any compensation, he said. Looking at the above process, the worker also said that there is a lack of law and order in the workplace.

The workers said that the management in this workplace is being managed by an interpreter and no manager has been appointed.

Some lines pay 80 per hour per worker, unfairly asking for [targets] that a worker cannot [meet]. Some of them pay 100, and if they do not meet the standards set by the employer, they have to be beaten...

There are more than 200 day laborers working in the workplace, and they alternately fire and rehire them without appointing approved employees, and forcing young workers under the age of 18 without a doctor's certificate.

[Translation via Google Translate]