THE man who exposed systematic forced labour conditions at Smart Glove has stood his grounds: he is not doing so to shame Malaysia but his filing of complaint to the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is backed by evidence of abuses that he personally came across after examining the numerous allegations reported by the foreign workers to him.
International migrant worker rights specialist Andy Hall said foreign workers at Smart Glove have reported to him and his team poor of conditions at the company’s various workplaces for several years.
“Many of the abuses workers have reported to me and my team – payment of high recruitment fees, cramped living conditions and much more – are internationally accepted indicators of forced labour,” Hall pointed out in a statement.
“I have engaged the Malaysian authorities on the poor conditions of work and living alleged by workers at Smart Glove for a long time without any success and without any response.”
He was commenting on the Withhold Release Order (WRO) meted out against disposable gloves produced in Malaysia by a group of companies collectively known as Smart Glove by the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) yesterday.
This group of companies include Smart Glove Corporation Sdn Bhd, GX Corporation Sdn Bhd, GX3 Specialty Plant, Sigma Glove Industries and Platinum Glove Industries Sdn Bhd.
Smart Glove is the fourth Malaysian glove maker to have its products banned in the US after Supermax Corp and its three wholly owned subsidiaries on Oct 20.
On July 15 last year, the CBP imposed a similar detention order on imports of disposable medical gloves by Top Glove after identifying all 11 violations of ILO indicators. It took Top Glove more than a year to resolve the exports ban issue.
In September 2019, a WRO was issued against WRP Asia Pacific Sdn Bhd, of which the ban was lifted in March 2020.
In welcoming CBP’s decision to ban the import of Smart Glove’s products into the US, Hall hopes that such trade enforcement action against will lead to a swift change in the poor living and work conditions faced by the company’s workers in Malaysia.
He also urged international community of governments, investors and buyers to urgently take action to ensure that the Malaysian Government and its private sector pay attention to the systemic forced labour present throughout workplaces across the country more seriously.
“Malaysia’s governance of migrant worker and forced labour issues continues to be among the worst in the world,” asserted Hall.
“Malaysia’s management of migrant workers, a crucial part of its economy and labour intensive export production, continues to be undeveloped with systemic corruption and little to no respect for the rule of law.”
Many companies in the gloves, palm oil, garment, furniture, electronics and electrical sectors continue to profit from systemic forced labour with little to no government oversight by local Malaysian authorities, added Hall. – Nov 5, 2021
