"Bohua Fashion Garment Workers’ Rights Violated", 30 September 2024

More than 400 workers at the Bohua Fashion factory located at No. (-) Ban Maw Secretary Road, Shwe Lin Ban Industrial Zone, Hlaing Tharyar Township, Yangon Region, are facing labor rights violations, according to workers...

The factory....produces RESERVED and CALLIOPE brand shirts with more than (400) workers, and there is no labor union.

The factory has no walkways for more than (400) workers, no emergency exits, not enough tables for workers to eat, and not all workers have EC contracts. Although EC contracts were signed with the previous workers, they were not given to the workers and the employer kept them. The toilets used by the workers were dirty and unhygienic. There were only four toilets for girls and four for boys, and they were not clean. There was no medical facility for the workers and there were no basic medicines.

The workplace employed nearly 100 daily wage workers, and some of the workers had been there for more than a year or two, but they had not been appointed as approved workers.

If the employer no longer needed these workers, they were illegally fired and then brought back as new workers.

"In the snap, iron, and packing departments, they were almost all day laborers. They also forced underage child workers to work too much, and the child workers had to work overtime, so they got tired and sick," the worker said.

In the workplace, workers are being asked to [hit targets] that they cannot [meet]... If the [targets] are not met, the...factory manager...scolds the workers.

In addition, the workers' working hours are from 8 am to 6:30 pm when they start work, but the actual working hours are from 8 am to 9 pm. They are being given overtime from 4 to 5 hours a day every day. The HR manager at the workplace does not understand the business and is pressuring the workers...

Due to the violation of labor rights by the workers, the workers are demanding the following:

1. The employer should only demand that the workers [meet targets] that the workers can [meet]
2. If the [target] requested by the workers is not met, the...factory manager should not curse the workers.
3. The employer should not force the workers to work overtime until 9 o'clock every night.
4. The employer should also take care of the dirty toilets used by the workers.
5. The employer should provide the workers with the contract between the employer and the workers and sign the contract with the workers who have not yet signed the contract.
6. The employer should approve the [employment] of workers who have been working for more than a year or two.
7. They also demand that the workers have a medical room in the workplace.

[Translation via Google Translate]