A coalition of migrant rights groups yesterday demonstrated outside the Taipei office of a Taiwanese sculptures and figurines manufacturer, accusing it of colluding with Myanmar’s junta in suppressing striking local workers in Yangon.
In a joint statement, the groups accused the company — Wise Unicorn — of failing to pay workers at a factory it runs in Yangon their bonuses on Oct. 21, in violation of its contractual obligations, triggering the strike on Oct. 31.
More than 230 workers are still on strike, which drew up to 300 workers at its peak, Burmese media reports and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) said.
Photo: CNA
The workers have demanded that their daily wages be raised to 9,000 kyat (US$4.29) and that they be paid an hourly rate of 2,000 kyat for overtime hours, the groups said.
Wise Unicorn did not agree to the demands, and allegedly asked the Burmese military to threaten the striking workers by driving military vehicles around the factory and sending rifle-wielding soldiers to the premises to take the workers’ names, the groups said.
The groups demanded that the company immediately rehire the more than 50 striking workers that it has laid off.
Wise Unicorn has infringed upon the basic rights of workers and given Taiwanese businesses a bad name, said Shih Yi-hsiang (施逸翔), a senior researcher at the Taiwan Association for Human Rights, one of the groups protesting the company.
Wu Jing-ru (吳靜如), a researcher at the Taiwan International Workers’ Association, another NGO, said that some workers have reportedly been physically assaulted by a supervisor at the factory managed by Taiwanese and Chinese.
Calling Wise Unicorn’s handling of the strike a form of forced labor, Shih said the case has been forwarded to the International Labour Organization.
Shih said his group would suggest that a complaint also be filed with the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in the hope that the US government would take an interest in the case and determine it to be forced labor.
That could lead the CBP to temporarily ban the importation of products sold by Wise Unicorn to the US, one of the company’s main export markets.
Wise Unicorn’s owner, surnamed Kao (高), said the company rejected the workers’ demands, because they had just received a salary increase in July.
Kao said the company initially filed a lawsuit against employees who claimed they had been assaulted by their supervisors, but later reached an out-of-court settlement with them and withdrew the suit.
She said that no manager at the factory had assaulted any workers and that all of the factory’s actions fully complied with Burmese law.
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