(Feature) – As clothing factory workers walked out of one of the many factories in a Rangoon industrial zone, many took a quick glance into their pay envelope. It was their last day. They had been laid off, and their family members were waiting outside anxiously.
Many of the clothing factories in Thingangyun Township have closed. The workers’ pay envelope contained about 20,000 to 30,000 kyat (about US$ 40). Most of them were women age 16 to 40 years old.
Most had come from rural areas or outlying townships where work was scare or non-existent. Even with the very low salary and the substandard living accommodation that the factory offered, they wanted to hold on to their jobs because it was all they had to support sons and daughters, and husbands and parents. They thought their jobs were a gift from God.
According to figures compiled by the Myanmar Clothing Manufacturers' Association, there are more than 70,000 female workers at clothing factories in the Rangoon Region.
Many of the factories are foreign-owned. A total of 130 clothing factories are still operating in Rangoon Region and Pegu (Bago) Region.
But survival for many factories has been hard, especially starting in early June when the exchange rate for one US dollar fell from more than 800 kyat to about 760 kyat. Moreover, export earnings have declined because the exchange rate is less than 800 kyat per dollar.
Under the circumstances, many companies exporting goods, such as clothing and furniture factories, have struggled to keep their doors open. It they stop factory operations, the workers will lose their jobs. Some clothing factories do not have much work to do, but they have kept operations going because they don’t want to lose skilled workers, according to sources close to the factories.
Clothing factories in Burma earn about 10 percent net of their export earnings. In 2010, the export earnings from the clothing sector was US$ 485 million.
A female worker at the Lin Htet wool factory, who had more than 10-year's service to the factory, said: “When the factory received large orders, I was on overtime so I earned about 40,000 kyat per month including overtime earnings. Since last year, the amount of orders has been declining and I don’t get overtime.”
Because of the poor economy, the Lin Htet wool factory, which opened in 1997, recently shut down and laid off its work force. But, in a sign of the times, the story doesn’t end there. On July 22, the workers demanded more severance pay than the factory owners originally offered.
After negotiations involving MP Thein Nyunt of Thingangyun Township, officials from the Ministry of Labour and factory authorities, the factory agreed to give the workers more severance pay.
Workers were paid one month’s salary (about 30,000 kyat) if they had one to three months’ service; two month’s compensation if they had three months to one year’s service; four month’s compensation for one to two years’ service and five month’s compensation for more than three year's service.
On Wednesday, the workers held their last salary envelope in their hands while huddling in the rain. Some were laughing; some looked sad and very worried. A few children peeked into their mother’s salary envelope. Some people put the envelopes into plastic bags to protect them from the rain.
“If those female workers cannot get jobs, what will happen to them?” asked a factory official. “They will be ruined. Every time a factory closes most of the people ruined are female.”
Workers and other businessmen are now looking for the new government to create more job opportunities for workers, to come up with innovative schemes and to stimulate the economy. Part of their expectations also involve overhauling outdated laws and rules regarding workers’ rights and duties, many of which were imposed in 1964.
Many workers are looking at newly-elected politicians to speak to their needs in the upcoming Parliament, which starts August 22.
MP Thein Nyunt, for one, said that he would put forward suggestions regarding workers during the next session of Parliament. Meanwhile, for laid off workers holding their last paycheck and others, the future is bleak. Even so, they gather their energy to look for new jobs, and they hope for the best.
