"A letter from a labour at Kfine International Garment (Myanmar)", 14 October 2023

Bago Kfine violates the rights of pregnant workers. Workers are not paid annuities, and the official of the labour office told them not to speak out. The labour office official breaches the ethics by revealing the name of the complainant to the factory...

Labours from Kfine International Garment (Myanmar) Co.,Ltd. Factory at Bago city bypass road are forced to work in violation of EC Treaty.

No annuities

In other factories, the annual salary... is calculated once for a full year and the following month. Even [if] they resigned, the factory informed them by phone to come and take the annuity.

In our Kfine factory, [they] do not issue pensions after completing one year of employment. Another is that it is only issued twice a year in April and October but not during the interval period even we resigned.

Labour office officials who [evade] ethics

We complained about it when the labour office came to inspect it. The officers from the labour office said that annuity issue doesn’t count in their inspection, so they warned us not to [say] anything. When the officials [went] back, the HR Manager called us and scolded us...because of this issue, they scolded us every day until the end of the month, so that I had to quit my job.

Force pregnant women to quit their jobs

Even now, pregnant women are forced to submit resignation letters. Even though they paid social security fee for a year, they were forced to quit. Pregnant women are not allowed to leave work early...

Factory interpreters who break factory rules

Burmese-Chinese interpreters eat snacks in the machine line, use smart phone all the time, flirting with girls in every [factory], [harassing] the girls...bring[ing] snacks for them, hug[ging] and touch[ing] them during working hours.

Discrimination of all super[visors]

[...]

[Supervisor] Jue Myat Naing always swear[s]...She swears [at] the employees under her all the time. She doesn’t to know nothing if we ask her. But in front of the Chinese, she scolds and swears [as if] she knows everything...

Forcing to substitute Sundays for the Tha Din Gyut Holidays

The coming weekend is set as 5 days off for Tha Din Gyut but we were asked to substitute on Sundays. When we asked if they would pay 5,600 MMK for those days, they said “No, its just a substitution”. Our factory has 1,800 employees and 200 day laborers, a total of 2,000 labours.

Forced to ride small ferry and give seats priority to the all super

70 employees have to take a single [bus]. No response from the HR for reporting this. [Supervisor] Daw Sander Win said “Work if you can or leave” when we reported to her. She said to come with our own car if we feel it is tight...the higher ranks always make sure a seat [is] left for them but pregnant women were [made] to stand up...

They forced us to take a single bus with 80/90 people.

European brand manufacturing factory

The factory...[is] mainly manufacturing [for] Best Seller Brand, Only Brand, and ZARA Brand.

Bribery between factory and labor office officials

If the officers from the labor office come, the leaders [tell us what] to answer in advance. The officials didn’t take any action even if we [tell the truth]...The officers in the office took what was given to them by the factory and went back. The officials from the government office returned as soon as the [factory management] gave them money. If this continues, the exploitation upon us [will continue]...