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

The factory has over 1000 Burmese workers. I had interviews with 4 workers from the factory. They have been working in this factory for more than two years or three years. The factory is divided into two types; daily wage- earners and dozen piece-production workers. There are nine types of work divided into nine sections in the factory.

1. Spinning Section
2. Knitting Section
3. Patching Section
4. Cloth Connecting Section (Sewing Section)
5. Fine Cloth Section ( Cutting for Extra-Yearn)
6. Washing Section
7. Ironing Section
8. Final Cloth Checking Section
9. Packing Section

Morning Shift - 07:30 am to 11:30 am
Afternoon Shift - 12:30 am 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.

Morning shift 08:00am to 12:00am
Afternoon Shift 01:00pm to 05:00pm
Night Shift 06:00pm to 09:00pm, 12:00pm

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.

In October, they had to work over 100 hours of overtime. They did not have holidays even on Saturdays and Sundays.

Daily-wage workers earn 45 Baht, 50 Baht, 55 baht and 60 Baht a day according to their service. After the workers protest on 9th May, they earn at least 50 Baht , 55Baht and 60Baht a day depending on their ability and service. If a worker is in service in this factory for over two years and has good relations with a factory authority such as a supervisor, the worker can earn 60 Baht a day. Few workers earn 70 Baht a day, such as those that have been working for nearly four years in the factory.

They can earn about 3000 Baht a month during the peak production period but if the factory does not receive many orders, they earned only about 1000 Baht.

If they have a regular job and overtime they earn on average between 1800 and 2500 Baht per month. But the factory usually deducts 300 Baht from their salary for work permit expenses.

Piecework rates very depending on design and target time. Earnings can very depending on the production skill, payment rates and the knitting machine type assigned, for example Gate 3, Gate 5, and Gate 7 workers, who work with these three Gate machine types, have to work harder than other workers.

No one from the factory usually knows how much he or she will get for a dozen pieces in advance. So the problems between the factory authority and workers usually occur. According to skill and experience, workers know how much money they should get per dozen pieces. When the payment is less, the workers urge the manager to increase the rates and sometimes they protest against the factory authority. Workers feel that they should earn at least 120 Baht a day. A worker has to complete at least 48 parts or at most 60 parts of a dozen sweaters to earn 120 Baht in one day.

For example, a skilled worker from 5 Gate machine can earn 120 Baht a day after accomplishing a dozen pieces but he has to work at least 11 hours. The skilled workers earn on average between 2500 Baht and 3000 Baht a month if the factory has many orders but the ordinary workers will earn about 2000 Baht a month.

In November, most of workers earned around 1000 Baht because of fewer orders.

The factory does not say prior to production what a dozen piece rate payment will be. Workers stop working when they are informed of the rate and don’t like the piece rate payment allocated by the factory authority. Workers urge the manager to increase the payment. If the factory manager does not allow the workers’ demands, the factory authority always say that they will give the orders to other small factories, where the workers will work for the low rate. Sometimes the manager gives some or all orders to other factories when bargaining means can not solve the problem of payment between the manager and workers. The factory usually shares order to other factories (SR Co Ltd. and KS Co Ltd.) during the peak production period. But workers do not know the payment rate the factory gives to others. The factory manager controls the payment rate per dozen by this means or this threat. Workers are concerned about fewer orders because they would like to work regularly, so workers have to work with the low payment rate as the factory allocates.

Sometimes the factory does not have enough work for workers. In the irregular working hours, workers usually face the problem of low payment rate because they did not want the factory authority to share the orders with other factories. So although workers don’t like the low payment rate per dozen, they have to work, so they accept the rate.

The supervisors allocate the payment rate per dozen in the factory. If workers earn between 4000 and 5000 Baht a month, which they rarely do, the manager complains and blames the supervisors that the payment rate is higher than before. If the workers earn under 1000 Baht a month, the manager asks the supervisor, “Don’t the workers work very well?”

The workers can go out of the factory between at 05:00pm and 09:00pm after the afternoon shift and at 05:00pm on Saturday and Sunday. They must stay at the factory on the other days. The workers normally have no holidays, even on Sunday. Workers have a holiday the day after payday. During the peak production period workers were not allowed to go outside even on Saturday and Sunday.

It is very difficult to take leave if the workers suffer illness. First workers inform their supervisor about their illness so that they can take leave and second the supervisor informs the manager to give the leave. At last workers can take the leave with the approval of the manager. The workers can not go out of the factory without getting a permission letter from the manager.

If a worker arrives at the factory a little late for their working hours, the factory authority usually deducts 1 Baht per minute from his or her salary as a fine. And the factory deducts 50 Baht per shift from wages if the workers are absent during their working time without taking leave.

When some workers need to go out of the factory for urgent personal or social affairs, they usually go out with all possible means through a wire fence. But after the protest in May, the fence has been electrified. Fortunately, the fence has injured no one.

There is a clinic open between at 08:00am and 05:00pm at the factory. A doctor give treatment to patients between 10:30am and 12:00am. But the patients get only paracetamol tablets. Some workers suffered TB (Tuberculosis) because of the dust from the yarn. It was estimated that about 30 workers were treated by the hospital in a six-month period.

There are still child workers in the factory who are about 14 years old. Children are daily wage earners and have been working in the spinning section, clothes checking section and packing section. They earn 50 Baht a day. When the factory authority knows that the external monitors from the company, which give orders to the factory, or the officials from the Thai Labour Department will be checking the factory, the factory authority usually ask the children to stay out of the factory. Every worker does not have the opportunity to meet the people who check the factory. The examiners of the factory meet and discuss with some workers who are specially selected from the factory.

The Labour and Social Welfare Ministry allowed the immigrant workers to renew the work permit between Sept 14 and Oct 15 in 2002, who registered with labour offices last year. But no new work permits would be issued during this period.

The Expense for work permit (Sept 2002 to Sept 2003) is as fallow:

1. Fee for health insurance: 1200 Baht (Free medical treatment for one year)
2. Fee for work permit for one year 1800 Baht
3. Fee for medical check ups 300 Baht
4. Fee for work permit card 150 Baht
5. Totally 3450 Baht

Last year the total expense for work permit (Sept 2001 to Sept 2002) was 4450 Baht. Employers gave 2050 Baht and took 2400 Baht from workers for the work permit. So, employers deducted 300 Baht a month from the monthly salary.

At present workers from the factory don’t know how much the employer will give and how much he will deduct from their wages for a one-year work permit. But the employer started to deduct 300 Baht a month from payment in November. Last year the factory gave the photocopy of worker permit to workers, but this year workers have to hold the certificates of medical check ups issued by hospital.

The factory distributes photos of all the workers that are not to be hired by other factories such as those dismissed by the factory or those trying to move to other factories.

The factory officially gives a notice to the workers not to move to another factory. The notice includes that the factory will take actions on any worker who moves to another factory if they discover that it has happened. On the other hand, the factory will take the action on other factories which accept his workers and these factories will be prosecuted for accepting his workers.

There is a mechanist named Mr Tun Tun in the factory. He has to repair about 250 sewing machines at the factory. He earns 4000 Baht per month.

He moved to another factory to get 5000 Baht a month in October. When the factory knew that he moved and was working at another factory, the factory authority informed his new factory not to hire him. So the new factory dismissed him and he came back to the New Product factory.

He requested the factory manager return his work permit and give back the expense of the work permit. If this could not be done, he told the manager to rise his payment to 5000 Baht a month. The manager did not accept his requests. Now he is working at the factory with 4000 Baht a month like before.

The factory provides enough rice to workers. Sometimes many grains of paddy are found in rice cooked. So workers have to eat the rice after removing the grains of paddy. Often they have to eat very soft rice.

The factory always provides too little water. Workers usually need to rush when taking a shower. Although at 07:00am in the morning water comes from the pipes, there isn’t any water left in the pool. Workers face a water problem for taking showers. In evening the water comes at 4:30 pm and at 5:00pm. Workers do have enough water when it is raining.

Report of B.K. Fashion Factory and Fired Workers on September 9, 2003
Appendix (1) - Interviews
Appendix (2) - Workers Protect For Better Wages
Appendix (4) - Tak Province Industrial Council’s Resolution

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