"Prettex Myanmar Factory Calls for Overtime on Sunday, Some Workers Forced to Work Late Night on Monday" 29 October 2024

Prettxe Myanmar garment factory officials called for overtime on Sunday, October 27, and forced workers to work late night on Monday, workers said.

Workers said they were forced to work overtime for two consecutive days, but they were not paid their overtime wages for Sunday immediately.

"The supervisors pressured us to work, saying we had to work...We worked on Sundays and then the next day we had to work overtime. We didn't even have time to refuse. [They] still haven't paid the overtime we had to work on Sundays. We didn't have a day off, so we wanted the pay immediately," said a worker.

On Monday (October 28), some workers were forced to work overnight, without being paid for dinner or a 5am shuttle bus to get home.

The Prettex Myanmar factory also said that it had started requiring 3 hours of overtime every day since the weekend reopened on October 21. On Saturdays, they were forced to work 5 hours of overtime, and on Sundays, the workers said...

The factory also requires workers to obtain their consent before requesting overtime.

The factory said in a letter to Myanmar Labour News that the overtime on Sunday, October 27, was authorized by the Yangon Divisional Labor and Labor Law Inspection Department...

The factory has not established a transparent WCC to report on workers’ grievances, and the workers say they do not know who the members are.

"They said there was a WCC. That's what we found out after the inspection. They said there was a WCC and they didn't solve the injustices that factory workers were being subjected to. If there was a WCC, they would have negotiated the OTs...."...

The Prettex Myanmar factory is located in the Sadukan Industrial Zone, Shwe Pyitha Township, Yangon, and according to the township labor office, it employs more than 500 workers...

[Translation via Google Translate]