Sittwe: Twenty five workers from a salt production site have fled in fear of arrest after the owner of the business lodged a complaint with the police accusing them of stealing salt, said the father of a worker in Sittwe.
“My son, who was working in the salt production site, told me that he fled after a police team came to arrest them after the owner accused them of theft of salt,” he said.
U Than Win owns the factory called the Shwe Pyi Phyo salt factory. It is located in Bogri Photha Wra ward in Sittwe, the capital of Arakan state.
The salt factory is located in Nga Pre That village in Pauk Taw Township, 30 miles from Arakan state capital Sittwe.
U Than Win reached an agreement with 25 workers from Sittwe to produce salt from salt farms he owns in Nga Pre That village. They agreed to share the profit on a fifty-fifty basis, local sources said.
The workers produced several tons of raw salt during summer and received half the profits in keeping with the agreement.
In May, before the onset of the monsoon, the workers produced 300 bags of salt. They informed the owner of the amount produced and asked him to sell it.
However, a police team led by Maung Tun Tha from Kyauk Taung police station from near the salt farm came to arrest them but the workers escaped because the police team was short of manpower.
“I heard that the owner did not want to share the profits of the last production with the workers. So he lodged a complaint with a senior police official from Sittwe accusing the workers of stealing salt. He urged the police officer to arrest them after bribing him,” the worker’s father said.
On the instructions of the police officer, police inspector Maung Tun Tha went to the salt farms along with four constables to arrest the workers. The police seized all salt and equipments after the workers fled. Later the police inspector handed over 300 bags of salt and materials to U Than Win.
In Burma, there are no workers’ or labour organizations or unions to fight for labour rights. Because of this many workers are suffering in many places of work in Arakan state as well as in the rest of Burma.
