Myanmar’s government has approved the country’s first-ever national minimum wage, state media reported yesterday, after months of bitter negotiations with labor groups and employers.
The wage has been set at 3,600 kyat (US$2.80) “for a standard eight-hour work day” and takes effect from Tuesday, the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper said. It is to apply to workers “across all sectors and industries,” but small businesses employing less than 15 people are to be excluded, it added.
Myanmar has seen a wave of protests for better pay and conditions, particularly among workers in the growing garment sector, after decades of direct junta rule came to an end in 2011.
The decision on the wage, announced by the National Minimum Wage Committee on Friday, comes as part of the plethora of political and economic reforms introduced under the quasi-civilian government that has also seen a growth in foreign investment.
However, even the low sum reached had been vehemently opposed by some employers, who claimed that low worker productivity in Myanmar meant they could not afford to pay more. Pressure to adopt a fair minimum wage had also come from outside, with a number of Western manufacturers arguing that poor pay was counterproductive.
In Myanmar, employees had previously been demanding a minimum of 4,000 kyat per day, with protests over wages outside factories in recent months seeing several laborers arrested in the ensuing police crackdowns.
In neighboring Thailand, where an estimated 2 million Burmese form part of a vast migrant labor force, the national minimum wage is set at 300 baht (US$8.37) per day.
However, rights groups say Burmese migrants are often paid less than this amount, working in poor conditions and subject to exploitation.
Regionally, debate over improving factory conditions and worker pay has intensified since the deadly 2013 collapse of Rana Plaza in Bangladesh highlighted appalling safety problems in the country’s lucrative garment industry.
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