Yangon (AsiaNews) - A small
wage increase, which represents a great achievement in a country where - until
last year - organizations and trade unions to protect workers were banned. After
a week of strikes over low wages, bargaining and poor environmental conditions,
the workers of the Chinese-owned shoe company Tai Yi in Yangon, have obtained an
wage increase from 75 to 100 kyat per hour (the equivalent of 11 cents). However,
some people are still not satisfied with the results of the negotiations
because the demands "were not entirely satisfied", in particular, the
dissatisfaction revolves around the monthly bonus for employees - reserved for
those who do not miss even one of the 26 days of a monthly work - which remains
at 6 thousand kyats (about 7.5 U.S. dollars).
The shoe company workers protest (pictured) started on 6 February and saw about
2 thousand workers downing tools. At the root of discontent, the managements
failure to pay the five days of "vacation" for the Lunar New Year,
celebrated in China
and other Asian nations on January 23. The mood generated a real strike, which
went on to include the conditions of factory work and exhausting shifts: 12
hours a day, six days a week for a daily wage of 70 cents (about 200 dollars per
year).
A worker told the Burmese newspaper The
Irrawaddy that the company has placed an additional monthly allocation of
about 11 thousand kyat for the salaries. A second, 12 years in the shoe factory,
said that "tomorrow we will resume normal work activities." The
agreement came the day after the second meeting between top management and 53
employees, representing all the factory staff. Unlike the first, the second
face to face encounter was not attended by Burmese government officials.
Last year the President Thein Sein promulgated a labour law rule which repealed
the draconian Trade Unions Act of
1962 - the year when the first military dictatorship in Burma came to
power, prohibiting the formation of trade unions. Now Burmese workers have the
right to strike, with a notice of three days in the private sector and 14 in the public. For the ILO
(International Labour Organization) it was "a huge step forward for the
country."
It is not clear whether the workers of Tai Yi in Yangon
have complied with the standard, but their strike has marked an important step
in protecting the rights of workers.