ETHICAL and fair recruitment is the key consideration, should the Malaysian Government give in to the appeal of the Malaysian Rubber Glove Manufacturers Association (MARGMA) for the hiring of 25,000 foreign workers in the wake of shortage faced by the industry since 2019.
It is imperative that relevant parties, namely the Human Resources Ministry (MOHR) and the glove industry, take in their stride to eradicate incidences of dysfunctional and corrupt rehiring scheme which have been rampant in the past, according to international migrant worker rights specialist Andy Hall.
“Ethical recruitment of low-skilled foreign workers from overseas for Malaysia’s labour intensive export industries essentially means very low cost (or free) recruitment costs and decent work guaranteed for the workers with informed consent as to terms and conditions of employment,” he told FocusM.
“There must also be a real understanding of what they (foreign workers) are getting themselves into once they arrive, especially if the work is dirty, dangerous and demanding. Ethical recruitment entails direct recruitment which means no brokers or middle men.”
Yesterday (Sept 28), MARGMA made an urgent appealed to the Government to allow the intake of foreign workers given the country’s rubber glove industry is currently facing a critical level of shortage to meet the industry’s increasing global demand in 2021-2022.
“We have the production capacity but not enough workers to utilise the production capacity to its optimum,” MARGMA president Dr Supramaniam Shanmugam pointed out in a statement.
“We need to fill this gap of factory workers shortage immediately lest, we lose out on capacity building to fulfil global orders and demand.”
In spite of running local hiring programmes since 2019 with the Human Resources Ministry via JobsMalaysia and PenjanaKerjaya to recruit local workers, MARGMA noted that this has been met with little success with take-up rate of below its targeted 10,000 local workers.
Whether it is the rubber glove, plantation or electrical & electronic (E&E) industry, Hall reiterated that the notion of ethical recruitment also suggests transparent management on the part of the Government with regard to recruitment processes by avoiding the past syndicates.
“It also means open and transparent tendering of recruitment contracts by the Malaysian companies concerned to ensure they work with the best and most able ethical recruiters available in the market,” stressed Hall who has also been advising Sime Darby Plantations Bhd on ethical recruitment practices since October 2020.
“The risks of a failed or corrupt recruitment process to the Malaysian Government and industry reputation is real as reflected by the US forced labour sanctions and a blackened image globally on modern slavery work alongside the serious dangers for easily abused and exploitation workers.” – Sept 29, 2021
