AMID domestic and international pressure, Malaysian glove makers are making strides – albeit slowly – to address issues concerning treatment of their migrant workers.
In documents made available to Canadian news agency CBC that were sighted by FocusM, Top Glove Corp Bhd named its introduction of Zero Cost Recruitment Policy (ZCRP) as among the measures it has implemented to safeguard the well-being of its foreign workforce.
Under the policy, migrant workers do not pay any recruitment fee as the company would bear all recruitment-related fee related to employing a foreign employee.
“Additionally, the ZCRP stipulates pre-departure orientations and interviews at the source country, post-arrival orientations in Malaysia, and monthly interviews with workers to ensure that they have not paid any hidden fees to recruitment agents,” noted the world’s largest glove maker.
“Top Glove will also reimburse workers who have paid recruitment fees to agents at their source country, supported by all workers signing a Letter of Undertaking committing that they will not pay recruitment fees during the recruitment process.”
Last month, the Department of Labour of Peninsular Malaysia (JTKSM) announced that it has opened 19 investigation papers against Top Glove for allegedly violating the Minimum Standards Act on Housing, Accommodation and Employee Facilities 1990 (Act 446).
Since then, the authorities have cracked down on many glove and personal protection equipment (PPE) outfits to ensure they comply with laws.
Even as glove demand outstrips supply in tandem with a spike in the global COVID-19 infection rate, many international clients have decided to re-evaluate their ties with Malaysian glove makers on grounds that the latter were breaching standards set by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
On the recruitment fee, Top Glove said that it had made five rounds on remediation payments (from August to December last year, amounting to RM50 mil from the RM136 mil recommended.
“We made the payments following verification by an international independent consultant. This covers more than 11,000 migrant workers, including those who have left the company.
“In addition, we have also blacklisted two recruitment agents after a due diligence effort found them to have engaged in unethical practices.
“Now, we are working with 11 recruitment agencies from Malaysia and overseas, on top of raising awareness of our migrant workers to refrain from paying recruitment fees to third parties,” Top Glove pointed out.
Recruitment fee a “sensitive issue”
On overtime work, Top Glove said it allows such practices by observing local laws which permit 104 hours of overtime in a month with one rest day per week.
It added that overtime is performed on voluntary basis as long as they do not exceed permissible limits by using digital tools to monitor compliance.
On Act 446, Top Glove said it was working hard to comply with the regulations and is constantly in communication with the Human Resources Ministry and JTKSM on the matter.
“In the meantime, we’re searching for new hostel accommodation that meets local laws. In the mid-term, we have acquired an entire block of an apartment in Meru, Klang with a target completion date of 15 months.
“We are also building mega hostels in Selangor (Klang and Banting) which are fully equipped with a suite of amenities and facilities. In addition, Top Glove is also building and acquiring additional houses, apartments and hostels in other states where it has operations,” added the glove maker.
On a related matter, Kossan Rubber Industries Bhd – another Big Four glove maker – said it was working hard to comply with local laws while acknowledging that its migrant employees work overtime on a voluntary basis.
“On top of minimising overtime, we also pay our workers correct overtime and ensure they don’t work beyond the 104 hours allowed under Malaysian laws.”
Kossan added it also objected to the recruitment fee issue, adding that it had its own mechanism to address the matter – the 2019 Employers Pays (Zero Fee) policy.
“But we understand it’s a sensitive issue as many have in the past, paid recruitment fee to channels we played no part but was required to use.
“The nature of the recruitment fees ‘system’, as mentioned, was the only channel companies were allowed to use for workers and is well-documented to have led employees paying high recruitment fees that they were told not to declare to their employers,” the company added.
For the record, CBC has released a documentary entitled The Truth about Your Life Saving PPE: Hidden Camera Investigation yesterday on its television outlet, CBC Gem. – Jan 16, 2021
