Is labour laws effectively enforced in Burma?

Spring Air Ace Company Limited operates a factory in Zaykabar Estate in Mingalardon Industrial Zone in Yangon Region. That factory is operating with over 800 workers.
Ko Nyi has been working in the factory supervisor position for over 5 years. He usually helps other workers and also values his work. Therefore, when the high-ranking personnel in the factory oppressed the grass-roots workers, he has always stood aside.

But it has become an offence for him. For his stand aside the workers, his position has been demoted from factory supervisor to supervisor of the cleaning section on December 6, 2022.

The factory management cannot change the position of a worker from the position that he or she started working in at the beginning of the employment. Moving the position is a violation of the employment contract.
Despite being demoted from his original position, Ko Nyi continued to work at the position he was assigned by considering his living.However, two months after the degradation of his position, the factory management dismissed him without any offence.

According to the Employment Contract (EC), the dismissal of Ko Nyi has no sufficient reason. Is this fair and just?

Ko Nyi (not his real name) said as follows:
"I have four family members. I can’t live without a job since I have a family. I have also faced silent threats. They are killing me mentally. My friend even warned me to stop working and just take what I can. They are still afraid of that if they make me get in trouble. They even warned me by saying that the factory management has cut ties with high-ranking officials. I think the factory owner, who is a foreigner, couldn’t know this sort of case."

Before being dismissed, Ko Nyi (not his real name) had been under pressure four times by being told to leave the job with his own consent. For Ko Nyi (not his real name), as a person who is struggling for a living, he just had to keep working with tolerance.

The factory management has been giving incentives to him too, saying that he can get any amount of compensation if he resigns with his own consent. But will the factory management actually give him one? And, why?

Are they still having such privileged authority to treat a worker as they want? If an employed worker wishes to resign from his or her employment, he or she has to inform the employer (or the manager) one month in advance.
Even if a worker has actually violated a specified term for a light offence, the worker shall get a written warning at the first and second offences, and on the third offence, the worker shall sign in the employee’s bail letter.

However, even after those three warnings, if a worker commits the offences again within 12 months, the employer can terminate the employment by not giving any compensation. Besides, the factory management shall give notice one month prior to the strike, in accordance with the existing laws, bylaws, and rules, and shall compensate the workers.

The employer has no right to dismiss any worker for violating these laws and regulations.

For dismissing workers, the employer shall engage with the Workplace Coordination Committee (WCC). In most cases that break out during these days, the employers have dismissed the workers without their consent.

Especially, which is an unfair attempt of the employers to reduce the increasing salaries of the workers who have several years of service.
According to the employment contract, the employer has no right to dismiss a worker without any proper reason. If the employer dismisses a worker without any proper reason, any such dismissal is just the employer's responsibility.
Only five out of one hundred workers know their labour rights, and the employers have also never given them a chance to learn about them. Do employers talk about these rights? Therefore, most of the workers still don't know when their rights are being violated.

Some of the employers don’t explain the rights of a worker because they are concerned if the workers demand their rights. We have found that the workers still have to work 8 hours a day, and they are also still having to work about 2 hours of overtime on average.

It is not possible for a pregnant worker to work overtime. But Ma Thin Thin (not her real name) has to work overtime for constant days even though she is pregnant. Even though she didn’t take a leave, But the supervisor told her to take the leaves, and then she was dismissed.
This is also an obvious breach of the rights and entitlements of a worker. Regarding this case, Ma Thin Thin (not her real name) submitted a complaint against her factory at the STUM.

Why discrimination? Why dismiss someone without any proper reason?
Why? Doesn’t the employer know the labour laws?
If it is true, is this the time to teach the factory supervisors and managers about the law?
The owners of most of the factories are foreigners, and most of them also don’t know about the laws related to employers and employees in Myanmar. Their stooge-like Myanmar citizen managers are still manipulating on the ground. Why are they hiring or firing the workers based on their emotions?

There were some cases where STUM was able to assist their workers in getting compensated or getting their previous jobs back. However, they are always afraid if the employer’s stooge-like staff targets them.

Also in the legal means of addressing the cases, most of the cases were done at the level of the Conciliation Body. The workers are still having the weakness to keep facing the cases at the arbitration body and arbitration council levels.

According to the nature of the business, whether making products or giving services, the employers shall know the related laws, terms, and announcements. They should also expect the possible consequences of the products they produce.
For a brand to be able to grow sustainably, it must not only have accountability and responsibility for its products but also be accountable and responsible for its owned workers and employees.

Therefore, the employer should know that the employment contract is also one of the most important and top-level 11 contracts that businessmen usually have to sign.
SpringAir Ace also signed the Employment Contract when it started hiring a worker. But, when it moves the worker from one position to another, it no longer respects the employment contract and coerces the weakness of the worker, and it also tends to sign the employment contracts back again.
The current managers at the factory have no knowledge of law, and they also don’t try to study the related laws, and every time they face a case, they have always tried to force the counterparts by using money to close the cases. Has it already become a path for them?