TODAY I read a news with regard to the salary rise of town council cleaners, current average S$750 to new S$1000. What a good news for all cleaners? But it come with condition that those cleaners who want to earn more must go training and upgrade their skill. Wonder what kind of skill need to be upgraded as a cleaner. Perhaps minimize man power and increase productivity. The cleaners now should have expected to work not only clean but washing the blocks. I consequently think of a news of our factory worker's plight at back homeland. Yesterday I read a Myanmar online news saying that thousands workers from a Chinese own slipper factory strike for unfair pay cut. The story reveals that the factory was closed one week for Chinese New Year holiday with the will of factory owner. But at the end of the month, workers got their salaries cut by 10,000 Kyats. This unfair cut ignite our workers sit out strike.
I understand from the report that these workers earn 75 Kyats an hour only for their hard working. So I calculate how much they earn per day current as 75 x 8 hours = 600 Ks. Current exchange rate for Kyats is 850 for 1 USD. So converting the daily wages to USD would be 600/850 = 0.706 USD/day = 21.18 USD/month if he/she works everyday. What a poor earning for our worker? In fact, our factory workers are definitely skill workers in related job. I am sure they got more responsible than those full time cleaners in Singapore. What make our workers hugely different from the counterparts of regional countries? Is it because of poor/lack of labour law? Is it because lack of labour union in Myanmar? Is it because our authority ignore the plight of our people? Is it because our authority own some share of those money-making factories. Is it because China can do almost everything in Burma? Any yes answer to above queries would be rated extremely bad.
We, being immigrant workers, are understandable to be bullied by foreign employers as we are working on foreign land. But the factory workers story is different from us. They are working in mother land and suffering from foreign employer's bully. They have no law to protect their rights. Who will step in the case to settle in favor of our poor people? I am sure, this is not unique case inside Myanmar, there would be more similar cases that keep silent due to afraid of sacking their jobs. If we are supposed to go industrialized nation, we must have a labour union and law that cover the rights of our labour. Otherwise, irresponsible foreign investors will keep digging our assets and create the gap between rich and poor. Being authority, it's their obligation to make people life better while the nation is open up. I'ld like to beg our authority to protect our people's right and prevent the scenario of bulliness by their employers. It'ld be wise to set up an office to solve out such problems under ministry of labour. Otherwise, people won't know where to approach when they face unfair at their workplaces.
May our worker able to get what they fully deserve especially when they are working on their mother land.
I understand from the report that these workers earn 75 Kyats an hour only for their hard working. So I calculate how much they earn per day current as 75 x 8 hours = 600 Ks. Current exchange rate for Kyats is 850 for 1 USD. So converting the daily wages to USD would be 600/850 = 0.706 USD/day = 21.18 USD/month if he/she works everyday. What a poor earning for our worker? In fact, our factory workers are definitely skill workers in related job. I am sure they got more responsible than those full time cleaners in Singapore. What make our workers hugely different from the counterparts of regional countries? Is it because of poor/lack of labour law? Is it because lack of labour union in Myanmar? Is it because our authority ignore the plight of our people? Is it because our authority own some share of those money-making factories. Is it because China can do almost everything in Burma? Any yes answer to above queries would be rated extremely bad.
We, being immigrant workers, are understandable to be bullied by foreign employers as we are working on foreign land. But the factory workers story is different from us. They are working in mother land and suffering from foreign employer's bully. They have no law to protect their rights. Who will step in the case to settle in favor of our poor people? I am sure, this is not unique case inside Myanmar, there would be more similar cases that keep silent due to afraid of sacking their jobs. If we are supposed to go industrialized nation, we must have a labour union and law that cover the rights of our labour. Otherwise, irresponsible foreign investors will keep digging our assets and create the gap between rich and poor. Being authority, it's their obligation to make people life better while the nation is open up. I'ld like to beg our authority to protect our people's right and prevent the scenario of bulliness by their employers. It'ld be wise to set up an office to solve out such problems under ministry of labour. Otherwise, people won't know where to approach when they face unfair at their workplaces.
May our worker able to get what they fully deserve especially when they are working on their mother land.
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