BYMA Myanmar, whose workers went out on strike over a pay dispute on January 19, has said it will pay all arrears to the workers on January 26. The worker’s leaders said the protest was withdrawn on the evening of January 19. They weren’t informed about the agreement and the protesters will make a negotiation on January 20 again. About 2000 workers had staged a protest in front of the construction site of the Yoma Central Project in downtown Yangon demanding to receive their salary this month.
“Now we have permission from the department to provide 40 percent social security fees for the period of COVID-19 second wave. The regional authority U Tun Kyaing has promised us (the company) that he will transfer the check on January 26. The employees were glad to know that. Actually, we have a misunderstanding between employer and employees about the pay. We’ve already calculated their actual working days. We will pay all the arrears in their salaries on the second payroll day, January 26. We will pay all of their benefits, allowance, and overtime fees. They are satisfied with that,” said U Salai PP, a spokesperson for the company.
The company usually pays the wages every two weeks. December’s wage arrears should be provided this month but the company had paid only wages for the first two weeks of January in the last payroll. Only the supervisors received the social security fees previously, so the workers made negotiations with the HR department last week and had an agreement. However, on the payday, January 19, the workers received only K50,000 to K60,000 when they should have got nearly K200,000 including arrears. It made thousands of workers stage a protest on January 19.
The Yoma Central Project is a mixed development project consisting of luxury residences, five-star hotels, serviced apartments and offices. The project is being developed within the former Myanma Railways headquarters at the corner of Sule Pagoda road and Bogyoke Aung San road by BYMA Myanmar, a joint venture between Singapore-listed Yoma Strategic Holdings and Dragages Singapore. Workers also staged a protest in March last year, when COVID-19 first broke out in Myanmar, to demand paid leave during the Thingyan holidays – Translated
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Source: Myanmar Times
