Garment factories threaten to shut down if wage is implemented
YANGON, Myanmar (AP)— Several hundred workers in Myanmar have staged a peaceful demonstration to demand that a new daily minimum wage be set higher than proposed.
The factory workers protesting Sunday in a northern suburb of Yangon, the country's largest city, want the daily minimum wage to be set at 4,000 kyat (US$3.54) rather than the 3,600 kyat (US$3.18) proposed by the National Minimum Wage Committee last month following negotiations between the government, employers and employees.
The current daily minimum wage is 3000 kyat (US$2.65).
Factory owners say a wage hike will affect their ability to operate, and some Chinese and Korean-owned garment factories have threatened to shut down if it is implemented.
