"Tai Hong factory does not give medical leave to workers, including pregnant workers. Forced without treatment", 6 December 2023

...Officials at the Tai Hong Garment Factory, which was opened in Watara, are reportedly not allowing pregnant workers and other workers to receive medical treatment, and are also putting pressure on them.

The Tai Hong factory is a factory owned by Chinese nationals, with around 1,000 workers, and the workers say that they sew clothes such as EVERLAST, DIEM and FB SISTER. They said that there is no labor union organized in the factory, and there is no WCC group organized either.

[The factory managers are] swearing at elderly women workers and those who don't work overtime on Sundays. [They] forced workers to quit their jobs. The workers said that they were forced to take time off from work, and that women workers were forced to carry loads that were impossible for them to carry.

"If employees take medical leave, they [do] not [receive] regular pay. Pregnant women cannot take medical leave for two or three days...If you continue to take medical leave for the next month, you will be asked to...report to the office...The cleaners are over 40 to 60 years old. They don't get medical leave either...There are cases where workers who do not show up for overtime on Sunday are asked to take a week off from work," he said.

The workers who were comfortable with the factory officials were absent from work for 4 days, but they were not fired, and they were given a week of work...

The workers of Tai Hong Garment Factory have the rights of self-employed workers and the rights of day laborers. Factory workers say they need to get leave and [for the factory to] stop demanding unlimited hourly wages.

"If you take more than 3 days of leave, you will be fired...[we are] asking for equal rights with regular employees...." said the factory workers.

It is reported that Tai Hong Garment Factory is recruiting young day laborers and not hiring them as permanent employees... In addition, a day laborer said that even though the day laborers had to work for over 11 hours from 7 am to 6 pm, they only received 4,500 kyats. Even though the day laborers were asked to work overtime until 6:00 p.m. on Sundays, they said that 4,500 workers were paid wages.

[Translation via Google Translate]