Workers at Costec factory in Shwe Pyi Thar Industrial Zone forced into continuous overtime despite heat stress

Workers enduring heat at Costec factory in Shwe Pyi Thar Industrial Zone say they are being ignored while being called in for continuous overtime

November 9

At the Costec International Co., Ltd factory, which is producing orders for the SMOG Brand in Shwe Pyi Thar Industrial Zone (3), Insein Township, Yangon Region, the temperature inside the factory has risen to 32 degrees Celsius, yet the factory is citing a broken water pump as the reason for not turning on the water curtains and is continuing to make workers keep working, according to workers.

The factory is located at No. (34/35/36), Mya Taung Wun Gyi U Hmo Street, Shwe Pyi Thar Industrial Zone (3), and workers say that in addition to poor ventilation inside the factory, the heat emitted by the fluorescent lights means they are working under even hotter conditions.

The water pump inside the factory has been broken for about a month, and it has not been repaired to this day; workers have also raised the matter with the HR manager twice, but there has been no effective solution, one worker said as follows.

“Even on cloudy days, the temperature inside the factory is around 32 degrees. On other days it is worse. The temperature is also more intense because of the heat from the fluorescent lights. The ventilation opening is also very far from the Cutting department. We have told the HR manager twice already, but they just say they will do it and nothing has been done. In recent days, there have even been people fainting from the heat,” she said.

Workers say that when workers whose health has deteriorated due to the heat try to ask for oral rehydration salts to drink at the factory clinic, the clinic staff do not give them out easily, and they only got them after asking repeatedly.

In addition to the heat problem, the factory has been continuously calling workers in for overtime (OT), and there is also discrimination against workers who refuse to work overtime, it is learned.

In calling workers in for overtime, the Workers' Coordination Committee (WCC) is not informed, and workers' consent is not fully obtained; instead, more work is being piled on the existing workforce, another worker experiencing this firsthand said as follows.

“On the OT issue, there is no informing of the WCC. There is also no sign they want to inform the workers' organization. They do not recruit enough workers and just assign more work to the existing workers. They also discriminate against those who do not work overtime, using grades and bonuses as leverage to pressure them into coming in,” he said.

Workers and organizations assisting workers say that after the military coup, employers have taken advantage of the disappearance of trade unions and are violating workers' rights in various ways.

Workers and labor rights advocates have pointed out that while people are struggling to find work amid the general crisis that has arisen since the coup, employers in Myanmar's garment factories are gaining the upper hand, and workers are having their rights violated and are left without protection.

MyoTaw News Channel