Hundreds of workers in Yangon were sacked and some factories stop providing free transport and overtime payments as the consequence of introduction of a national minimum wage

The introduction of a national minimum wage on 28 August has resulted in hundreds of workers losing their jobs in the commercial capital of Yangon, claims the Federation of Trade Unions Myanmar (FTUM) the Global New Light of Myanmar reported on 7 September.

Although the FTUM’s chairman U Aung Lin said that unemployment rates are unlikely to rise, sacked workers should be given redundancy payments, urging the Ministry of Labour to act as a liaison between employers and workers. With some 250,000 workers employed in Myanmar’s garments and textiles industry, the chairman acknowledged that: “Five-hundred redundancies will not have much of an effect on the entire workforce.”

Labour unions said that some factories have stopped providing free transport and overtime payments, which causes workers considerable inconvenience.

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