A report by Construction-based Labor Union, Cooperation Program of Independent Laborers, Labour Rights Clinic, Workers Support Group and other labour rights groups highlighting how violations of workers’ rights, including long work hours and low wages, oppression of labour unions, unsafe working conditions, lack of protection for women workers, minimum legal protection and corruption, have created a culture of modern slavery.
The report also offers insight into the daily life and struggle of workers and how Myanmar’s current legal framework is unable to protect their rights and how employers exploit workers by paying bribes to authorities and imposing crippling restrictions on unions.
Workers in Yangon’s (Rangoon) 13 industrial zones work in unsafe, hot, overcrowded factories, typically for around 11 hours per day, 6 days per week. Despite new labour unions, workers’ rights are not adequately protected by law. Striking workers and labour activists are routinely threatened, intimidated, or dismissed by employers.