Ministry secures end to strike

Ministry secures end to strike

By Shew Gu Thit Sar   |   Sunday, 29 September 2013

Workers who walked out when their factory's closure left them without pay have called off their strike after intervention by the regional labour ministry.

Workers from the Hone Shin factory strike near Yangon's Sule Pagoda on September 23. (Aung Htay Hlaing/The Myanmar Times)

Negotiations involving the workers, management and ministry staff resulted in the signing of a five-point agreement on September 23. The Yangon Region Ministry of Labour has promised to help the workers find new jobs, said labour minister U Soe Min.

Hluttaw representatives Daw Sandar Min and Ko Kyaw Kyaw joined strike leaders in publicising the agreement among the workers at the troubled Hone Shin cold storage factory in Yangon's Dagon Seikkan township industrial zone.

Under the agreement, which resulted from several hours of talks, Hone Shin, which opened 12 years ago, will shut down permanently. Management has agreed to pay all compensation and outstanding wages; to intercede in favour of arrested strike leaders U Min Min and U Thiha; and to allow workers living in factory accommodation to remain until 6pm on September 26. The workers guarantee not to remove or destroy factory property and to renounce any additional compensation claims.

Some members of the 200-strong workforce have been with the factory for 11 years. Workers with service of three years or more will receive five months' wages, and those with less than three years' service will receive three months' wages.

The Ministry of Labour will seek new jobs for the workers, said minister U Soe Min.

"If we hear of any factory in Dagon Seikkan township requiring more workers, our department will inform them," said U Soe Min.

Some workers accused the management of planning to reopen the factory under another name but U Soe Min said this was not the case. "The factory shut down because of low productivity. We will take action if it reopens in violation of the agreement," he said.

The company's management said it had asked the police during the strike not to take action against the workers. "The strikers were there without permission, but I negotiated with the head of the industrial zone and the police not to crack down on them brutally. I also negotiated with the workers the whole night of September 22," said U Thein Hlaing Tun, who did, however, press charges against two of the strike leaders.

The agreement ends a series of industrial disputes at the factory, located at the corner of U Chain and U Mya streets in Dagon Seikkan township, that date back to 2011 and focused mostly on workers' low pay.

Workers at Hone Shin cold storage factory earned a basic wage of K15,000 a month, rising to K20,000 after several years of service. Pay rose to K25,000 after the first strike, and some workers took home as much as K80,000 including bonuses. But workers say they were docked K5000 for missing one day, and K10,000 for missing three days.

The second strike, launched in August, ended on September 4 when the employer accepted the ruling of an arbitration body. But on September 12, the employer backed out of the agreement, saying he would close the factory for three months. This sparked the third strike, when workers demonstrated in front of City Hall. Their demands included paid leave, casual leave and medical leave, and recognition of their labour representatives.

Translated By Thiri Min Htun

Source: http://www.news.myanmaronlinecentre.com/2013/10/06/ministry-secures-end-to-strike/