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A Report of B.K. Fashion Factory and Fired Workers on September 9, 2003

1. Burmese immigrant workers for many years exploited by the B.K. Fashion factory violating the Thai Labour Protection Act, including no minimum wage, extremely long working hours, low overtime pay, no holiday etc.
2. The factory did not inform the workers about the closing of the factory in advance of lay-offs end 2003.
3. The factory authority gave no compensation to the fired Burmese workers (only some money for transportation back to Burma).
4. The factory owner discriminated workers in the factory as all the Thai and Chinese workers got compensation according to the Thai labour protection act.
5. The factory manipulated the workers to believe that the factory was to be reopened 1st March including reassignment of the same workers.
6. The factory put pressure on the workers saying that they would not get the promised money for for transportation back to Burma if they did not sign leave paper in Thai. In the end all Burmese workers signed. The paper in fact was a letter of resignation.
7. The factory refused the gathering and unity of the workers to protest against the factory authority and to demand compensation (severance pay).
8. All workers had`a work permit and paid the work permit fee monthly, but they did not get any protection by the Thai labour authorities.

Urgent action to be taken

1. The factory must (be made) to reopen 1st March 2004.
2. The workers must get severance pay, and also back wages for long time underpayment.
3. The factory must reassign the same workers when reopened.
4. The reopened factory must apply working conditions according to the Thai labour protaction Act.
5. Thai Labour Ministry must look into the whole issue of exploitation of the Burmese workers in B.K. Fashion.
6. Thai Labour authority must make interviews with the workers to understand the situation of Burmese immigrants in Mae Sot.
7. The factory owners, Tommy Hilfiger and JCrew, subcontractors to the factory, must be (made) responsible for fired workers from the B.K. Fashion factory.
8. Workers, human rights organizations, international organizations should put pressure on the factory authority, Tommy Hilfiger and JCrew.

1. Legal action on no compensation for Burmese workers according to Thai labor law.
2. Freeze the assets of the factory as soon as possible.
3. Prepare for legal action if the factory is not reopened or if same workers not reassigned.
4. Look into factory authorities manipulating Burmese workers to sign a paper of reassignment to get money for transport back to Burma.
5. Look into the whole issue of exploitation of the Burmese workers in B.K. Fashion.

The factory was running under the name of Champion Knitting Factory Ltd in Mae Sot in Tak province in Thailand until September 1999. Then the factory, after giving compensation of HK$ 45 millions to the multinational company Gap, changed name to New Product Knitwear Co.,Ltd.

The factory is one of the biggest knitting factories in Mae Sot employing over 1000 Burmese migrant workers. The factory also has some Thai and Chinese workers in leading positions. Most of workers in the factory are female. All workers are registered with the Thai labour office in Mae Sot.

On 9th May, 2002 the workers in the knitting section in the New Product factory protested to get higher wages and soon workers from other sections supported the protest. The protest lasted for a week between on 9th May and 15th May 2002. On 13th May 2002, Thai authority, including police and the immigration authorities, raided and surrounded the workers from the knitting section. The police arrested 50 active workers, who lead the protest, and deported them to Burma (see – Appendix 2 - the report of the workers protest from New Product factory for better wages). After the protest, the factory authorities tightened the security including putting up an electric fence around the factory.

The factory used the name of New Product Knitwear Co., Ltd until the last week of July, 2003. After July, 2003, the factory changed the name to B.K. Fashion Co., Ltd. A few Thai workers from the factory continued to work under the name of the Champion Knitting Factory Ltd, but the Burmese were working under the name of the B.K fashion.

The factory stopped work on 9th December, 2003 and all workers were fired by the factory without getting compensation. The factory authority told workers that the factory would reopen in 1st March.

The factory owner of the B.K. Fashion is Mr Pricha Sac Kang, a Thai citzen, and the project manager is Mr Don Choi. Even though the name of the factory was changed from Champion to New Product and to B.K. Fashion, the factory owner , project manager and general manager Mr. Pang Man Chu, who is from Hong Kong, were not changed.

Mr.Pang Man Chu and Mr Don Choi are the general manager and project manager of the Sunrise Knitting Factory (Thailand) Ltd, which is located in Nakhon Sawan province, Thailand. Sunrise Knitting Factory (Thailand) Ltd. is the subsidiary of Hong Kong South Ocean Group’s factory in Thailand. The B.K. Fashion owner – Mr Pricha Sac Kang , his wife and sister are shares holders of the Sunrise Knitting Factory (Thailand) Ltd from Nakhon Sawan province.

The Sunrise Knitting Factory has its own quotas. Customers of the Sunrise and B.K fashion or New Product factory are J Crew and Tommy for the USA and Europe markets. Most of orders for the Sunrise or New Product come from the Champion Knitwear International Ltd from Hong Kong.

During July 2003, after changing from New Product Knitwear Co.,Ltd to B.K. Fashion, there was not enough regular work at the factory because the factory could not get orders as before. So the factory fired about 50 workers including some workers under age in July.

The factory have nine types of work:

1. Spining Section
2. Knitting Section
3. Patching Section
4. Sewing Section
5. Washing Section
6. Ironing Section
7. Labelling Section
8. Quality checking Section (Final Cloth Checking Section)
9. Packing Section

In August, the labeling and the packing section were stopped and moved out of the factory. The workers from the labeling section and the packing section were moved to other sections such as knitting, gip, linking or ironing section.The factory maintained running getting a few orders from other Mae Sot factories like Hang Thai factory.

During in October, there was not regular work in the factory. Regarding the irregular work time in the factory, the factory authority gave the reason to workers that the root cause of the work force reduction was the lack of orders. In the last week of October, the factory authority made a list of workers wanting to go back to Burma and to take leave. The factory authority forced some workers to apply the leave at the office. But some female workers cried because they did not want to take leave to go back to Burma. So the factory authority allowed the workers, who did not want to take leave, to continue working at the factory. When workers from some sections did not have work in the factory, the factory provided only10 Baht to each worker for the expanse of curry.

The first week of November, the first workers to go back to Burma were given 450 Baht to cover travelling costs. But the factory deducted 300 Baht from the travelling cost for the expense work permit so workers got only 150 Baht for transportation back to Burma (see – Appendix 4 - Resolution of the Tak Province Industrial Council on 31st August, 2001). Totally, over 200 workers were fired by the factory and had to go back to Burma. The workers did not get any compensation from the factory authority except 450 Baht.

Some workers, who could not go back to Burma, remained in the factory, some workers went to other factories and some were finding a new job in other factories. Although there was no regular work in the factory, the factory authority did not allow any workers to go out of the factory except between at 05:00pm and 09:00pm after the afternoon shift and at 05:00pm on Saturday and Sunday.

The factory authority did not inform workers about the closing the factory before closing the factory the first week of December. After the workers got information from some Thai staff workers that the factory would be closed, the factory manager officially notified the workers about the closing of the factory beginning of December, 2003. All workers were depressed for the certain information of the factory closing in the second week of November and did not want to work during the work place earnestly. Some workers were disappointed to continue the work and handed over their working quota to their friends.

On 2nd December, 2003, the factory manager at a meeting informed the workers that the factory would give their monthly payment to all workers on 3rd December, 2003 and workers would be send to the Burma border the next day. First the manager told workers that if the workers would stay in the factory, the factory would provide only rice to workers but the factory could not provide water and electricty. In fact, the factory did want to accept the workers after the factory were stopped.

There were 10 Chinese working as supervisers in the factory. They knew that the factory might be closed permanently. The factory manager told the workers that the factory would only be closed for three months. The Chinese workers urged the workers to demand a fair compensation from the factory.
On 3rd December, about 30 workers went to meet the social manager to get the compensation – at least one month salary if the factory was closed. The manager replied to workers that the factory could not give the compensation because the factory would be prepared and the expenditure of the preparation of the factory would be costly.

At night On 3rd December all workers did not take the proposed compensation, the 900 Baht which the factory offered, and also denied signing the receipt paper of the low compansation and their salary for November. So the factory cancelled the plan of giving the payment.

On 4th December night, some workers could be organized by the factory authority to take the money of the compansation – 900 Baht and salary for November by divide and rule. The factory deducted 300 Baht from 900 Baht for work permit fee and workers had to sign on a paper of the leave written in Thai. Most of workers did not accept the factory authority’s offer. During these days, the security guards from the factory tightened the security of the exit and the entrance of the factory more than ever. The factory authority did not want the workers to contact the media groups and labour organizations. The factory also did not provide even enough drinking water.

At night 8th December, the factory gave 900 Baht to all workers for transportation back to Burma. If the workers refused to sign on the paper of the leave, they would not get 900 Baht. Although the workers did not wish to sign on the leave paper written in Thai, which the workers did not understand, they had to do it. They were afraid that they would not be reassigned if reopened the factory again and they could face more difficulties of the temporary stay in Mae Sot to find new job or when they were going back to Burma without getting 900 Baht.

Although the workers knew that it was not sure the factory would reopen and 900 Baht was very low and unfair compensation, all had to sign, received the money under the avoidable situation at last.

On 9th December in the morning, the factory were closed and the workers were not allowed to stay in the factory anymore.

There are over 50 Thai workers including office staff in the factory. After the factory fired the Burmese workers, the factory dismissed some Thai workers. All Thai and Chinese workers got compensation in accordance with the Thai labour protaction act.

There are now approximately 200 workers finishing the remaining orders in the B.K. Fashion factory.

(1) Working hour and overtime
Morning Shift	07:30 am to 11:30 am
Afternoon Shirt	12:30 pm to 04:30pm
Night Shift (Overtime)	05:30pm to 08:30pm, 10:30pm, 11:30pm

Although there is no overtime on Saturdays and Sundays the workers need to work until 04:30pm. Every worker in this factory has to work at least 11 hours per day including night shift. Most of the workers from the knitting section are male workers. Knitting workers have to work hard than workers from other sections. If there is overtime, the workers need to work until 10:30pm. In the peak production period, the workers must work overtime from 05:30pm to 11:30pm.

(2) Regular working hours for other sections
Morning Shift	08:00 am to 12:00 am
Afternoon Shirt	01:00 pm to 05:00pm
Night Shift (Overtime)	06:00 pm to 09:00 pm, 12:00 pm

The workers are free on Saturdays and Sundays after 05:00pm. They have to work at least 11 hours per day. Except on Saturdays and Sundays, at present, workers have been working until 12:00pm in the factory.

There were some child labour in the factory but after July, the factory dismissed them.

Overtime payment at the factory is 15 Baht per two hours. The factory did not pay for overtime worked up to 9:00 o’clock at night but only pay after 9:00 pm.

If the workers have regular job and over time they earn average 1800 Baht, 2000 Baht and 2500 Baht amonth. But workers could earn about 1500Baht,2000 Baht, 2500 Baht including 900 Baht for the compansation in December.

The factory deducted 300 Baht for work permit fee workers whose income was over 1000 Baht. The factory deducted 100 Baht from workers earned 500 Baht and 200 Baht deduction from 600 Baht, 700 Baht earning.

Than Doke
In Charge
Research and Documentation Department
Burma Labour Solidarity Organization

Appendix (1) - Interviews
Appendix (2) - Workers Protect For Better Wages
Appendix (3) - Worse Working Situations of B.K. Factory In December, 2002
Appendix (4) - Tak Province Industrial Council’s Resolution

 

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