"Minimum wage tug-of-war goes on", 7 July 2015

A second trade union has spoken out about the proposal for a 3,600-kyat (US$3.60) minimum wage in Burma, this time the All-Myanmar Network of Trade Unions, which has rejected the offer and called on workers to be prepared to take to the streets in protest. Trade union leader Hla Hla said...that workers’ groups must not back down from their initial demand of 4,000 kyat as a minimum daily wage. Representatives of garment factories, however, say they cannot afford to pay more than 2,500 kyat as a daily wage for factory workers, and have threatened to close down operations if such salary conditions are enforced. Speaking as a representative of the All-Myanmar Network of Trade Unions, Hla Hla said, “Nothing will happen to us if they [foreign and domestic garment firms] close down. I would like to remind fellow workers that the operators can’t just pack up and leave just because they cannot pay us the proposed minimum wage. There are regulations that require them to provide severance payments to their workers. If they refuse to do so, we’ll pursue legal channels to get what they owe us.”...Ei Shwezin Nyunt of the Labour Rights Defenders and Promoters Organisation said workers at the factories should be patient and wait for the outcome. ...She said that not many of the nearly 330 factory operators in the Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association (MGMA) have indicated they would pull out. “Some 145 operators in the MGMA objected to the proposed 3,600 kyat wage, while about 90 of them – 30 Chinese and 60 South Korean operators – threatened to close down production,” said Ei Shwezin Nyunt. “Many other factory operators remain, and more investors are set to come, so it shouldn’t be too much of a mess.”