TOP Glove Corp Bhd’s management believes that the detention order from the US Customs and Border Protection (USCBP) came from the enforcement agency only hearing from activists, non-government organisations, and foreign media.
“The activists have their own agenda in bringing up this case,” said Top Glove CEO Lim Wee Chai (pic) at an online press conference today.
He added that the detention order was issued due to USCBP only hearing one side of the story, and there was the possibility that foreign media had carried the issue “to give readers something more interesting.”
“I wish I could invite USCBP here to see firsthand how things are before they had taken action,” said Lim.
British independent migrant worker and labour rights activist Andy Hall was named as one of the activists during the press conference.
This follows the issuance of a detention order by USCBP to two of Top Gloves subsidiaries, Top Glove Sdn Bhd and TG Medical Sdn Bhd, citing forced labour issues.
The duo make up half of the company’s exports to the US, which also account for about 12.5% of the group’s revenue.
Still, management remains unconcerned, believing that the matter will be resolved in two weeks, and that the current stock being held will be taken up by other buyers. At the same time, Top Glove will still be able to import to the US through Aspion Sdn Bhd.
Managing director Lee Kim Meow also noted that the two main issues cited by USCBP were the issue of passport retention, and the issue of repaying workers the recruitment fees they had paid to recruitment agencies.
“We have not kept worker passports for over two years, and have even implemented a best practice of making available two locations for the workers to keep their passports. They can keep it at their hostel, or here in the office, where there is security and CCTVs,” said Lee.
The second, regarding recruitment fees, involves Top Glove tracking down foreign workers among its staff who had paid recruitment fees to recruitment agencies to work at Top Glove.
The company noted that it was working with its human resources department to trace the workers, and has estimated it will cost between RM20 mil and RM50 mil to fully reimburse these workers.
Top Glove also claimed to have its labour conditions audited between 80 and 90 times in the past year alone, which have all been pronounced satisfactory. – July 16, 2020
