Minimum wage plan prompts hundreds of complaints
Minimum wage plan prompts hundreds of complaints
Myanmar Times, 16 Jul 2015
URL: http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/national-news/yangon/15523-minimum-wage-plan-prompts-hundreds-of-complaints.html
After 18 months of negotiation punctuated by strikes and protests, the government on June 29 proposed a K3600-a-day minimum wage and opened a 14-day window for lodging any complaints over the amount.
More than 200 factories from the Shwe Pyi Thar and Hlaing Thar Yar industrial zones, as well as 21 labour unions, submitted objections to the amount. Employers, largely from foreign-owned garment factories, suggested the minimum wage would be unsustainably high and will force them to close down.
Unions harangued the government from the opposite end of the spectrum, holding out for the K4000-a-day wage they have been lobbying for since the beginning of the year.
Minister for Labour U Aye Myint has maintained that the proposed wage is a fair starting point, and has suggested factories should be willing to accept it on a trial basis.
But neither factory workers nor their bosses seemed willing to budge.
“We can’t pay K3600 as the minimum wage,” said U Myint Soe, chair of the Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association.
“If the central committee fixes K3600 as the minimum wage we will have to reconsider our garment factory business. We must demand the government provide long-term policies so our businesses can continue to operate.”
The wage hike will also force factory owners to cut benefits currently being provided to the workers, such as meals, transportation and a bedroom, U Myint Soe said.
Workers, many of whom earn a basic wage as low as K30,000 a month, said K3600 would not be enough to cover basic living expenses for a single-person household, let alone a family.
Ma Su Lat Mon from the Shwe Swan Yay Penan factory said she worries that the minimum wage will be blanket implemented, without regard for the need to fairly compensate higher-skilled workers.
“I deserve a higher salary because I am a skilled labourer, but my factory pays me just K85000 a month,” she said.
The Yangon Region Committee on the Minimum Wage confirmed that the K3600 figure had been greeted with disappointment from both sides and said it will now examine the financial realities behind the objections.
According to the minimum wage by-law, the regional and state committees have to follow up with the objections for up to 30 days. After that, they will report to the central committee, which must hold a meeting within 60 days.
Daw Mu Mu Swe, a director in the labour ministry, said the central committee is also collecting objections about the proposed minimum wage from other states and regions, and will announce the date of a committee meeting after it finishes the survey.
U Htay, chair of the All Myanmar Workers Union Network, said workers will demonstrate with “continuous” protests if anything less than K3600 emerges from the committee’s upcoming meetings.
On July 12, more than 200 workers from 15 factories protested in Hlaing Tharyar calling for the minimum wage to be set at K4000.
More than 200 factories from the Shwe Pyi Thar and Hlaing Thar Yar industrial zones, as well as 21 labour unions, submitted objections to the amount. Employers, largely from foreign-owned garment factories, suggested the minimum wage would be unsustainably high and will force them to close down.
Unions harangued the government from the opposite end of the spectrum, holding out for the K4000-a-day wage they have been lobbying for since the beginning of the year.
Minister for Labour U Aye Myint has maintained that the proposed wage is a fair starting point, and has suggested factories should be willing to accept it on a trial basis.
But neither factory workers nor their bosses seemed willing to budge.
“We can’t pay K3600 as the minimum wage,” said U Myint Soe, chair of the Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association.
“If the central committee fixes K3600 as the minimum wage we will have to reconsider our garment factory business. We must demand the government provide long-term policies so our businesses can continue to operate.”
The wage hike will also force factory owners to cut benefits currently being provided to the workers, such as meals, transportation and a bedroom, U Myint Soe said.
Workers, many of whom earn a basic wage as low as K30,000 a month, said K3600 would not be enough to cover basic living expenses for a single-person household, let alone a family.
Ma Su Lat Mon from the Shwe Swan Yay Penan factory said she worries that the minimum wage will be blanket implemented, without regard for the need to fairly compensate higher-skilled workers.
“I deserve a higher salary because I am a skilled labourer, but my factory pays me just K85000 a month,” she said.
The Yangon Region Committee on the Minimum Wage confirmed that the K3600 figure had been greeted with disappointment from both sides and said it will now examine the financial realities behind the objections.
According to the minimum wage by-law, the regional and state committees have to follow up with the objections for up to 30 days. After that, they will report to the central committee, which must hold a meeting within 60 days.
Daw Mu Mu Swe, a director in the labour ministry, said the central committee is also collecting objections about the proposed minimum wage from other states and regions, and will announce the date of a committee meeting after it finishes the survey.
U Htay, chair of the All Myanmar Workers Union Network, said workers will demonstrate with “continuous” protests if anything less than K3600 emerges from the committee’s upcoming meetings.
On July 12, more than 200 workers from 15 factories protested in Hlaing Tharyar calling for the minimum wage to be set at K4000.