Although the Myanmar garment industry has recovered and picked up momentum since 2009-2010 fiscal year, wages and benefits of workers in the industry are still low, according to observers.
“Recently the garment industry has received orders. In view of this, it is important for garment factory owners to attract skilled laborers at their factories. Although the factory owners could not raise the wages of workers in the past, they should increase the wages now. Otherwise, skilled workers will move to factories where they can enjoy higher salaries and benefits. If this happens, factory owners cannot prevent the workers from moving to other factories. Under the new government, the government as well as the ILO has placed emphasis on labor rights. As a result, employers and employees are in a position to negotiate for wages and benefits. There are supervisory committees in industrial zones. These committees should take labor rights into consideration. When a business is thriving, both entrepreneurs and workers should enjoy benefits,” said economic Professor Daw Yi Yi Myint.
There are about 150 garment factories employing over 80,000 workers in Myanmar, according to the industry sources. Among these factories, about 100 factories including 75 factories owned by Myanmar nationals, 20 owned by foreigners, 3 under JV system and 2 under profit sharing basis are members of Myanmar Garment Entrepreneurs’ Association. Most of the non-member factories belong to foreign entrepreneurs.
Most of the garment factories operated with foreign investment are from China, Japan and the Republic of Korea. Depending on the size of the factories, from 300 to 3,000 Myanmar workers are employed at basic levels in each of these factories.
At present, workers at garment factories owned by foreigners who pay wages in FECs are suffering losses due to falling FEC prices.
Although the ordinary working hour of garment factories is from 7:30 am to 6:30 pm daily including the 30-minute lunch break, workers have to work overtimes according to garment orders. Sometimes, they have to work throughout the night at overtime wages ranging from K 30 to K 200 per hour.
Most garment factories pay their basic level workers from K 15,000 to K 20,000 per month plus overtime wages and regular attendance allowances. However, a factory owned by an entrepreneur from China pays its workers daily wages in three levels.
Those in level A earn K 650 per day while those in Level B and Level C get K 450 and K 300 per day respectively. Although the normal working hour of the factory is from 7:30 am to 6:20 pm, workers there often have to work overtime until 9:20 pm.
“Those in Level A have to work very hard to get about K 60,000 a month. Similarly, those in Level B and Level C have to struggle to earn about K 50,000 and K 45,000 per month. We do not have days off even on Sundays when there are a lot of work orders. However, when we are absent from work because of illnesses, our wages are cut by tens of thousands of kyats, let alone providing us with medical benefits,” said a worker in the factory owned by the entrepreneur from China.
The government is taking measures to ensure that workers in factories owned by foreign entrepreneurs in Myanmar earn as much as that of foreign workers. The Ministry of Labor and relevant organizations are cooperating towards that end, and solve other labor issues. Under the measures, the working hour of a worker is only eight hours per day, and employers have been instructed to pay overtime wages twice as much as that of the normal a working hour. In addition, employers have been instructed by the minister concerned to create one off-day for those who have to work on Sundays within three days before or after the overtime Sunday.
Most of the countries placing orders from Myanmar once bought garments from China and Bangladesh, but they stopped their plans when wages in the two countries rose in 2009-2010. In search of cheap labor, these countries order garments from Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia. Even in Vietnam, wages of workers in garment industry is higher than that in Myanmar. As a result, garment industry in Myanmar is thriving.
At present, garment industry in Myanmar is beset with labor shortage and falling prices of US dollar.
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