“‘Workers have lost all their rights’: Coup and third wave leave factory workers at risk”, 9 September 2021

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Workers and labour rights activists say employers have…not been doing enough to prevent the spread of the virus.

Ma Ei Ei Win, 37, who is one of more than 8,000 employers at the Chang Yi footwear factory in Hlaing Tharyar that makes footwear for Adidas…said the factory was claiming to have no workers infected with COVID-19 when that was not true.

“Our factory closed from July 17 to July 31, and during that time I heard that many workers were sick and one with a high fever had died. There are still workers taking sick leave because they have COVID-19,” said Ei Ei Win, who asked to be identified by a pseudonym.

She said the factory had taken some precautions, such as providing face masks and hand sanitiser, and had instructed workers to stay home if they were sick or lost their sense of smell. But it is impossible for employees to maintain social distancing in the factory because of the lack of space, Ei Ei Win said. She was also critical of the company for not offering rapid COVID-19 tests, which she thinks would have been more effective at keeping the virus at bay.

“We work about one foot apart and when we eat lunch we have no glass dividing panels on the tables to keep us separate. This resulted in at least five or six people becoming infected in every group of between 30 and 40 workers,” she said.

Labour activist Ma Nwet Yi Win said some factory owners in Yangon industrial zones, such as those at Hlaing Tharyar or Shwepyithar, have taken advantage of the lack of monitoring since the February 1 coup...

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