IN light of so much scorns being poured over their abusive labour practices, two Malaysian Big-Four glove makers who recently came under the US Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) spotlight have defended their manpower utilisation exercise.
Supermax Corp Bhd (SCB) said the company and its subsidiaries are committed to combatting forced labour and adhere to labour law regulations pertaining to migrant workers.
Its efforts are guided by international policies such as the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) 11 Indicators of Forced Labour (ILF), according to the company.
“We would like to reiterate that SCB is a member of Sedex, one of the world’s leading ethical trade service providers and we adhere to all the audit standards and Malaysian Labour Law,” the company pointed out in a media statement.
“We constantly review and conform our sustainable business practices, relating to our human resources with independent audit guidelines.”
Supermax further stressed that it abides to labour laws and regulations pertaining to recruitment of migrant workers. Its existing policies and procedures which are guided by local and international policies are constantly being reviewed for gaps if any, for further improvements.
“To validate our continuous efforts to strengthen our social compliance, the company had proactively commissioned and successfully undergone a SMETA audit (Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit) conducted by independent international auditors,” the glove maker noted.
“SMETA is an ethical audit format which reports on Sedex’s four pillars of labour, health, safety and environment in reflecting good business ethics.”
Hartalega does its part
Meanwhile, Hartalega Holdings Bhd implements a 60-hour work per week as opposed to the general industry standard practice of 72 hours per week.
“The shorter duration of working hours per week is similar to those in the manufacturing line under the electronics industry,” divulged Malacca Securities Research analyst Kenneth Leong who recently attended a virtual briefing by the glove maker.
“To underline the importance of workers welfare, workers are provided with one rest day per week.”
With regard to fee payment, the research house shared that Hartalega has in 2019 embarked on a programme to reimburse migrant workers who paid recruitment fees.
A total of 49% of 4,153 migrant workers who were hired before the implementation of zero-cost recruitment from April 1. 2019 were interviewed in May 2020.
In August 2020, Hartalega became the first glove company to self-initiate reimbursement of recruitment fees.
By April 2021, more than 1/3 of full reimbursement has been completed and the reimbursement process will be accelerated with completion targetted for mid-June 2021. Total reimbursement would add up to RM40 mil.
Meanwhile, reimbursement of recruitment fees to former workers will begin in June 2021 which entails absconded workers, repatriated workers, workers on leave and/or stranded in their home countries due to the COVID-19 impact and workers who failed medical screening or had returned home.
“We gather that 82 former workers have been contacted to-date,” revealed Malacca Securities Research. “We note that the reimbursement programme is validated by an independent third-party organisation with proven track record in social compliance and recruitment fee remediation to conduct interviews with affected workers.”
“The reimbursement amount is touted to be comparable to other factories that are currently performing similar repayments to workers as well as slightly higher than the cross-sectorial data,” added the research house. – May 31, 2021
