"Workers demand equal professional fees and legal benefits in the workplace", 27 October 2023

In the Myanmar Morning Flower Garment (MMF) garment factory, which is operating at Shwe Lin Ban Industrial Zone, Hlaing Thar Yar Township, Yangon Division, workers are not paid the same professional fees, and they said that they do not get legal benefits and thus they want it.

It is reported that around 200 workers are manufacturing the REGATTA PROFESSIONAL brand at that factory, which is owned by a Myanmar national.

According to the workers, there is no trade union...neither the workplace coordination committee organized in the workplace.

"There are 3 lines. The lines with 50 and 30 workers give a daily wage of 5,600 MMK, attendance bonus 15,000 MMK and professional wages are A + 50,000 MMK, A 40,000 MMK, B 30,000 MMK and C 20,000 MMK. [If] the workers take leave or [are] absent, 5,600 MMK daily wages, 15,000 MMK attendance bonus and the professional wages are deducted...If an A+ grade worker misses a day, she would [face a wage] cut [of] more than 20,000 MMK" the worker explained.

In addition, the line with 80 workers [has] a daily wage of 5,600 MMK, attendance bonus 15,000 MMK and professional wages are A+ 3,000, A, 2,500, B, 2,000, and C, 1,500 MMK. Whether taking leave or absent, the professional fees will be cut and they cannot receive the legal benefits.

In the workplace, workers are... also suffering from discomfort and discrimination in the QC department.

In the workplace, the helpers are also hired with a daily allowance of 3,600 MMK, and some workers are paid a daily allowance of 4,800 MMK and overtime pay of 1,200 MMK, but even though some have worked for 5 to 6 months, they[still] receive a daily allowance of 3,600 MMK. The worker[s] said that they want to be paid according to the law. It is said that those helpers do not receive daily wages and professional fees.

The workers said that their demands are to allow the seamstresses to enjoy regular professional fees, not to cut the professional fee and not to lower the professional level for taking...leaves, to pay the [helpers] 5,600 MMK daily wages as other workers who have more than three months service, to allow them to enjoy attendance bonus, to set a professional fee based on expertise, not to pay the QCs’ professionality fees with turns but fixed and non-rotating, and to grade according to skill.