Since the rise in minimum wages of apparel workers of Myanmar in September last year, several employees were fired, including union members and leaders. Although the arbitration council intervened and ordered the factory owners to rehire the employees, but there seems to have a little or no effect on them.
At South Korean-owned World Jin garment factory, 34 employees were fired, out of which 33 could be laid off with compensation and one had to be rehired, as per the arbitration council’s ruling. “Although we accepted the council’s decision, the factory owners haven’t complied with the ruling. The owners don’t want to pay the compensation,” said Ma Phyo Yu Wia, a former worker representative from World Jin. The owner of the factory however denied taking anyone back citing reasons that the workers were troublesome and their demands interrupted the factory’s productivity.
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The arbitration council, however, has been accused of taking the employers’ side more while negotiating disputes. The factories that disobey the decision of the council are made to pay a penalty fee of up to K1 million, which is preferred more by the RMG factory owners. Lawmakers have rejected the requests for introducing imprisonment as a punishment for those who contravene council rulings.
Another union leader, Ko Kyaw Kyaw Myint from Han Jen factory informed that he was not even given a proper reason for his firing, and that the council’s decision allowed five other union members to be compensated but not him. “The district council’s decision to fire me was not logical. When I asked them to explain the legal basis for their decision they told me I have no right to ask about it,” he said.
While on the contrary, U Aung Win, Vice-Chairman, Myanmar Garment Manufacturers’ Association (MGMA) believes that the owners did what is best for their business. “Factories don’t want to rehire the workers who don’t obey the rules, and if they do rehire these workers, then factories are in a difficult situation and cannot control the workforce,” he said.
