Low wages spark labor strikes in Myanmar
With lowest wages in the region, workers in factories established with foreign investment in Myanmar go on strike due to extremely low wages in 2012.
On 6 February, 1,863 workers from Taiyi Shoe Factory owned by an entrepreneur from Taiwan came out on strike in protest of the wage cut for Chinese New Year holidays, and demanded a wage hike and other benefits.
The strike spread to some other shoe factories. Although the strikes at other shoe factories ended later thanks to the negotiations between the workers and the factory owners, the strike at Taiyi Shoe Factory went on for some time, and the workers had to report their demands to Mayangon Township Labor Dispute Committee.
The workers at Taiyi Shoe Factory went on strike for the second time on 29 and 30 March as they could not accept the conditions negotiated by Mayangon Township Labor Dispute Committee on 1 March. The negotiation held between the representatives of the workers and the factory at about 6 pm on 30 March struck an agreement to raise the wage of the workers from K 75 per hour to K 120 per hour.
Sparked by the extremely low basic salary, workers from High Art Wig Factory A and B in Hlinethaya Industrial Zone 3 and 4 and UNNO Myanmar Yes Garment Factory in Hlinethaya Industrial Zone 3 walked out on strike at 8 am on 9 May 2012. Over 200 workers from the wig factory marched in car to Hlinethaya Township Labor Office and Regional Labor Office in Mayangon Township and staged demonstrations there.
Worker Ma Lei Lei Khin from High Art Wig Factory B said, “When we asked for a pay rise in March, the factory management said that the owner was away, and they would increase our basic salaries when the owner came back. We waited in vain. Some of the workers went to them and asked for a pay rise, and their salaries were raised by K 5000 per month. Not all the workers in a section got the pay increase. However, the factory management cut our wages by K 8,000 when we were absent from work one day. When we could not work overtime, we were forced to do sanitation tasks of the factory. Food was also very bad. Our main demand is to increase our basic salaries.”
