More than 350 garment workers from the Join-Profit garment factory Industrial Zone (3) of Hlaing Tharyar went on strike on May 17to raise voice against factory officials who had violated the labour rights.
“We were not allowed to take any leave although it has been prescribed by labour law. Actually, we don’t even need to ask for this,” said Ko Zaw Min, Secretary, Factory Worker Union, who added that workers were never allowed to take time off and the factory officials always deducted their salaries if they took time off.
The workers also complained that factory officials and the worker’s supervisor violated previous labour contracts, which had been agreed upon in front of Labour Department officials.
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“We had to work overtime. We were very tired but we were not given the minimum daily wage. Factory officials also refuse to increase our salaries,” Ma Tin Myo Wai, a factory worker, told The Myanmar Times while justifying the cause of strike, adding, “I had about K150,0000 as my salary and I had to work for more than 80 hours in a month, which included overtime. Now my basic salary is K2700 (as a daily wage), which cannot cover my expenses.”
The salary and the calculation for how they have been short-changed has not been clearly specified.
The garment workers on strike asked factory officials to make an Employment Contract (EC) and issue the social security welfare documents as per to labour laws. They have also asked factory officials, via the Tsp department of factories and general labour laws, to clarify all information on their pay slips and not deduct salaries without giving justifiable reasons to the workers.
