AFP
reports on the wave of strikes among workers in Myanmar, particularly in the Hlaing Thar Yar industrial zone on the outskirts of Yangon:
YANGON — Silenced for decades under military rule, Myanmar's workers
are now daring to speak out to demand better pay and conditions after a
new law gave them the right to strike.
Workers in the country
formerly known as Burma are already testing their new-found power with a
string of walkouts, emboldened by legislation that is considered among
the most progressive in the region.
Hundreds of employees from
three garment factories at Yangon's Hlaing Thar Yar Industrial Zone went
on strike last week demanding improved working conditions, picketing
outside the plants.
Clapping and chanting, they showed none of the
fear that would have accompanied such open defiance in the past, when
businesses held all the cards in a system defined by cronyism and
intolerance of opposition.
"If they want to sack us, they will
have to fire all 800 workers" at her factory, said one 26-year-old
employee who told AFP she was not afraid of losing her job, although she
was reluctant to give her name.
"If they don't increase the money, we will continue protesting," she added, saying she was paid around $60 a month.
The
new legislation, approved by the country's reformist President Thein
Sein to replace the repressive 1962 Trade Unions Act, was prepared with
the help of the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
It gives
workers the right to strike when employers have been given advance
notice, and to form unions with a minimum of 30 members.
The new
rules represent a challenge to both workers and employers in a country
where dissent was routinely crushed by a military regime for nearly half
a century until a new quasi-civilian government took power last year.
"It's
the very early days of a new industrial environment. People are coming
to grips with it, understanding new rights and responsibilities," said
Steve Marshall, the ILO's liaison officer in Myanmar.
He said
people may become aware that they now have the right to strike but have
little understanding of how to negotiate with employers, who are also
adjusting to the new rules.
"We will likely see some industrial disruption and that is part of the learning process," he said.
A foreign diplomat told AFP the new legislation was considered as possibly "the best such law in Asia".
But he added: "The question is how to implement it in the current state of Myanmar society, which is not quite ready yet."
Myanmar
is one of the poorest countries in the world and despite hopes of an
economic revival as it opens up to foreign investment, job opportunities
are still scarce and people face rising consumer prices.
The
protester at Hlaing Thar Yar said workers wanted a cost of living
allowance of 30,000 kyats (about $37) a month, which would bring her
total monthly salary to around $100, including overtime.
Her employer had agreed to a $12 allowance, but "we are not satisfied with that", she said.
The
firm said in a statement that workers who had not agreed to its offer
by May 18 would be considered to have "resigned by their own will" -- a
deadline ignored by the strikers.
It is just one in a number of
recent cases of labour unrest at factories in Myanmar, whose low-cost
workforce is a major attraction for foreign manufacturers hoping to set
up operations there.
Earlier this month around 300 workers at a
wig factory in the same industrial zone went on strike, demanding that
their basic salaries be raised from around $12 a month to roughly $38.
"We
have faced this problem for a long time but we couldn't stand it any
longer," said 23-year-old Thingyan Moe. The South Korean employer
granted all of the staff requests.
"Many protests are occurring in
factories at industrial zones these days," said a lawyer acting for the
garment workers, Htay, who goes by one name.
The reforms have not
yet filtered through to employers or rank-and-file labour ministry
bureaucrats, he added, so that "workers have no other option than to
protest to get what they want".
"If these issues are not solved,
it might cause instability. It might become the beginning of a labour
uprising. We can't guess how far it will go."
But most recent
disputes have been small in scale, with workers opting to walk out in
the early stage of negotiations and agreeing a resolution within days.
Ye
Naing Win, of the Committee for Establishing Independent Labour Unions,
a local activist group, said there had been more than 20 strikes this
year and more were expected.
"The protests are occurring because
the basic salary they get is so poor and their lives get harder," he
said. "These factories are like prisons."
