After the assurance from the Yangon Region Chief Minister Phyo Min Thein over stability in the worksite, owners of the Fu Yuen garment factory had re-employed the expelled 30 workers.
A tripartite meeting between protest workers from Dagon Seikkan industrial zone, owner of the factory and Yangon Region Chief Minister Phyo Min Thein and officials was held on October 30.
At the meeting, Yangon Region Chief Minister Phyo Min Thein claimed that there will be worksite stability towards the employer, leading the Chinese owner to hire the 30 workers again, according to those that had attended the meeting.
“Results from today’s meeting was satisfactory. Yangon Region Chief Minister came to the factory and settled problems. What we discussed was for us to peacefully work again and re-employed at the factory,” said leader of the protest Thet Htat Swe.
The owner of the factory said that while he will be rehire the expelled workers, the complaints and desires of other workers who were not a part of the protest must also be addressed. The Chief Minister then went to the factory later and held further discussions there.
He asked for the opinion on the decision to work together again with the workers that had protested against the factory but majority of the workers were against it.
“We strongly oppose against employing the protest workers. If they were to get employed, we’ll resign. I was choked violently and kicked in the chest. They slandered us that we are the wives of the Chinese bosses,” said a worker in the factory.
Concerning those objections, several negotiations were made with owner and Yangon Region Chief Minister. After that, the owner announced officially declared that he will go ahead with the reemployment decision.
Yangon Region Chief Minister later answered to the media that time is needed to settle the current strife amongst the workers as there are certain conflicts between them.
“There are two parts in final coordination. The first part is negotiation between protest workers and owner at the government office. The owner agreed to re- employ them. The second part is that most of the workers at the factory shared a mutual desire. Those that were injured from the violence and supervisors of the factory do not want the owner to re-employ the expelled workers. But what was important is the owner’s decision. Long term negotiations will be required for those working at the factory. We need time to settle all the conflicts between workers but for today, a settlement was reached by the decision of the factory owner,” said the Chief Minister.
Protesters demanded 9 points and 6 out of the 9 points were agreed to.
On October 31st, a new employment contract between workers and the factory will be made.
“I would like to thank the Yangon Region Chief Minister and other officials for solving this problem. We had a terrible day during the protest,” said protest worker Thazin Nwe.
