4,000 Workers Go on Strike in Rangoon

Wednesday, 8 September 2010

4,000 Workers Go on Strike in Rangoon

Mon, 08/03/2010 - 18:26

Ba Kaung, The Irrawaddy

In the latest escalation of labor tensions in Burma, around 4,000 factory workers at an industrial estate on the outskirts of Rangoon staged a sit-in on Saturday to demand better pay, according to sources in the area.

Workers at two garment factories in South Dagon Township's No. 2 Industrial Zone began their strike at around 8 am, the sources said.

“When the workers got out of the company bus this morning, they refused to enter the factory compound,” said an eyewitness, adding that riot police arrived at the scene soon after the strike began.

The factories are owned by a company called SGI.

“The factory owner said he would comply with the workers' demands, but he forced them to go home,” said another person who witnessed this latest mass action by Burmese workers.

In recent months, workers employed by factories in Burma's commercial capital have shown growing dissatisfaction with stagnant wages, as inflation continues to erode the value of their earnings, most of which are spent on the purchase of basic commodities.

Meanwhile, there were also reports that several thousand factory workers in Shwepyithar Township, on the western outskirts of Rangoon, also staged a sit-in on Friday to demand higher wages and better working conditions.

Labor Ministry representatives were involved in negotiations between the workers and the factory management, the reports said.

According to a senior official from the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI), the unrest is related to recent pay hikes for government employees. Public servants' monthly salaries were raised by a flat rate of 20,000 kyat ($20) in January.

The UMFCCI senior official said that the wages of garment factory workers are significantly lower than that of workers in Cambodia and Vietnam.

“The basic monthly salary of workers here is US $30-50, while workers in Cambodia and Vietnam are earning at least $120 a month,” he said.

Source:

http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=17972

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by john francis lee (not verified) (127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1, 118.172.64.7) ... Tue, 09/03/2010 - 16:18.

Burma publishes new election

Burma publishes new election laws

State-run newspapers this morning published the full two-page text of the first of the laws, the "Union Election Commission Law", signed by junta chief General Than Shwe.

Just as the Thai MSM published the Thai Military's 2007 charter.

The law will "form a union election commission to supervise the practising of the Union of Myanmar people's rights to elect or stand for election as well as the political parties"...

...the military junta, officially known as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), would itself appoint the five-member commission.

All members... "shall be deemed by the SPDC to be an eminent person, to have integrity and experience, to be loyal to the state and its citizens and shall not be a member of a political party."

The commission would be responsible for designating constituencies, compiling voter lists and "supervising political parties to perform in accordance with the law".

The body also has the power for "postponing and abolishing elections of the constituencies where free and fair elections cannot be held due to natural disaster or due to local security situation"...

The Thai election commission's members were all appointed on 20 September 2006 by the Thai Military dictatorship, the very first day after its coup.

The 1990 elections were won overwhelmingly by Aung San Suu Kyi's party... but the junta annulled the results and has kept Ms Suu Kyi under house arrest for 14 of the last 20 years.

The government has already made it clear Ms Suu Kyi will not be allowed to take part in the elections, and her party has said it wanted to see the details of the laws before deciding whether or not to field candidates.

We all know Aung San Suu Kyi and Thaksin Shinwatra ain't no Aung San Suu Kyi... but let's hope the Thai junta cannot stall elections for 20 years, as the Brotherhood in Burma has done.

...General Shwe urged people to make "correct choices" in the elections... an implicit warning to back the regime.

Remember Stalin's dictum, "It's not the people who vote that count. It's the people who count the votes."