Hundreds of workers demonstrated in Myanmar Sunday demanding the government approve a higher minimum wage.
The workers marched outside an industrial zone in the country's largest city of Yangon and called for a daily minimum wage of $3.54 per day, well above the $3.18 rate proposed last month by the National Minimum Wage Committee, after negotiations between the government, employers and employees.
Myanmar's current minimum wage is $2.65 per day.
Factory owners, many of them owned and operated by foreign-based garment makers, have threatened to shut down their plants if the minimum wage is enacted.
Myanmar's Garment Entrepreneurs' Association has said that more than 30 factories with foreign investment have said they could shut down if the proposed hike in the minimum wages takes effect. Those closures could cause tens of thousands of people to lose their jobs.
