Myanmar: Garment workers threatened into working excessive overtime shifts
Summary
Date Reported: 6 Feb 2024
Location: Myanmar
Companies
Etam Groupe - Buyer , Footmark - Buyer , Undiz (part of Etam Groupe) - Buyer , Lidl - Former buyer , Asdet Garment - SupplierAffected
Total individuals affected: 600
Workers: ( 600 - Location unknown , Clothing & textile , Gender not reported )Issues
Wage Theft , Harassment (other than sexual) , Gender Discrimination , Occupational Health & Safety , Mandatory overtime , IntimidationResponse
Response sought: Yes, by BHRRC
Story containing response: (Find out more)
Action taken: Asdet Garment allegedly supplies to LIDL (for Esmara), Etam Groupe (for Undiz) and Footmark; LIDL provided a response to a request for comment from the Resource Centre, stating it no longer sources from the factory as it is withdrawing from Myanmar. Footmark and Etam Groupe did not.
Source type: News outlet
"Asdet garment factory supervisors threatened to work overtime. Day laborers are not paid overtime", 6 February 2024
...At the Asdet Garment Factory...[the] supervisors...threatened and coerced me to work overtime. As for day laborers, workers say that they do not get paid even though they work overtime.
Around 600 workers work at the Asdet Garment Factory, and the workers say that they are sewing CHANGE, Esmaea (LIDL), Footmark brand shirts and women's underwear...
During the factory working hours, overtime is from 7:30 am to 6 pm, and they are forced to work 12:00 midnight and early on Saturdays, as well as Sundays and public holidays, the workers said. In addition, workers say that supervisors at various levels say that they don't have to come to work if they don't want to work overtime.
On January 24th, 25th, and 26th, they were forced to work overnight, sleep inside the factory, and report[ed] to the labor office that they were forced to come to work the next day.
The workers said that...the next day, they shouted abuse and threatened to fire the complainant if they found out. On the same day, the manager, Daw Ii Phyu, summoned the workers to question them, and the workers said that they were afraid and had to answer that they were voluntarily working overtime.
Although they had to work overtime until 12:00 on February 25 and 26, the workers said that they had to work overnight on February 27 and February 28, which was a holiday, because the labor office did not come to check.
The workers refused because they could no longer work overtime, but the supervisors threatened them [to] not to come to work...
Most of the workers are tired due to working overtime. No time to cook, no time to rest...
[Translation via Google Translate]