"Workers protest over excessive overtime but not enough pay", 12 September 2024

More than 1,000 workers at Sen Yu Clothing Myanmar, located on Bhamo Secretary Road, Shwe Lin Ban Industrial Zone, Hlaing Tharyar Township, Yangon Region, attempted to stage a strike demanding a 1,000 kyat increase in their allowance because they were forced to work excessive overtime but were not paid enough to live on, but the employer threatened to crack down on them, causing the strike to fall apart in a short time, according to the workers.

The factory...does not have a labor union. The factory produces RESERVED branded shirts and fabrics.

The [workers were] forced to work excessively overtime, but the wages were low...so they stopped working and started a collective demand at 1 pm on September 9...

The working hours are from 8 am to 12 midnight every day. They are not allowed to refuse overtime, they are forced to work, and if they refuse, they are discriminated against.

According to the current payment rate, they are paid a daily wage of (5,800 kyats), a subsidy of (1,000 kyats), an overtime OT fee of (1,700 kyats) and a regular daily wage of (30,000 kyats). They have to work more than (100) hours of overtime OT, but they only receive a wage of around 400,000 kyats, which is not enough.

"Even after working so many hours, day and night, it's not enough. The government said that the allowance should be increased by another 1,000 kyats, but the employer did not increase it, so I asked for an increase in the allowance," the worker explained.

"...the factory said that you only get what they pay, and if you are not satisfied, you can quit...The workers were afraid and had to go back to work," the worker explained.

The workers said that the employer did not increase the allowance of 1,000 kyats that the Ministry of the Military Council had increased.

"During the protest, the employer forced some workers to work overnight. More than 100 daily wage workers were forced to work overnight without any days off. They were also fired immediately after missing a day of work," the worker said.

The workers said that the [supervisors] were demanding that the [targets] be met, and that the supervisors were rude to them if the [target] was not met.

The workers' demands are:

1. The employer should pay the 1,000 kyats subsidy since the Social Security Administration has issued a letter to increase the allowance by 1,000 kyats.
2. The employer should not force the workers to work overtime until 12 o'clock at night.
3. The employer should not illegally fire day wage workers without any reason.
4. The employer should only demand [targets] that the workers can sew.
5. ...address issues such as making rude remarks.

[Translation via Google Translate] .