Yangon: Several hundred workers in Myanmar staged a peaceful demonstration Sunday to demand that a new daily minimum wage be set higher than proposed.

The factory workers protesting in a northern suburb of Yangon, the country’s largest city, want the daily minimum wage to be set at 4,000 kyat ($3.54) rather than the 3,600 kyat ($3.18) proposed by the National Minimum Wage Committee last month following prolonged negotiations between the government, employers and employees.

The current daily minimum wage is 3,000 kyat ($2.65). Small businesses employing fewer than 15 employees are not affected.

Factory owners say a wage hike would affect their ability to operate, and some Chinese and Korean-owned garment factories have threatened to shut down if it is implemented.

Since the country started moving from a half-century of military rule to democracy just four years ago, the government has found itself grappling with the consequences of newfound freedoms of expression.

Factory workers’ strikes, student demonstrations and land grab victims’ protests have increased markedly.

Attendance at Sunday’s protest, however, which appeared to be a bit more than 200, fell far short of the 3,000 expected by some organisers.

The wage committee has called on all parties to submit their comments on the proposed hike within 60 days.