SUPERMAX Corp Bhd is now the only Big-Four glove maker which has yet to commence or finalise the remediation programme of its foreign workers.
Yesterday, Kossan Rubber Industries Bhd said it is on the verge of finalising its remediation programme amounting to RM54 mil which was first announced via a Bursa Malaysia filing on Oct 1 last year.
On the company’s part, a total of RM29 mil has been paid out to-date with the remaining RM25 mil expected to be completed in the month ending June 2021 as it accelerates the remediation payment programme.
“The group-wide exercise is undertaken by an independent third party which provides evaluation and reviews on the programme and execution monitoring in line with the company’s due diligence according to its ‘Zero Cost Recruitment Policy’,” Kossan pointed out in a media statement.
The programme encompasses all foreign workers who were recruited before or after the implementation of the policy in May 2019.
Commenting on Supermax “being left out of the race”, migrant worker and labour rights activist and researcher Andy Hall urged the company to “remediate properly in one lump sum and to address the issue of the company’s large outsourced and irregular workforce.”
As with Kossan working towards finalising its remediation programme, Hall welcomed the move as a step forward to ensuring more at risk migrant workers in Malaysia are taken out of debt bondage and forced labour situations.
“Given the current interest in forced labour within Kossan’s operations by CBP (the US Customs and Border Protection), the lump sum repayment which is in line with industry developments was to be expected,” he told FocusM.
“This is after all a healthy investment for the future and is part of ESG (environment, social and governance) abidance which has become a norm among today’s fund managers”.
On June 8, fellow Big-Four glove maker Hartalega Holdings Bhd completed its remediation of recruitment fees totalling RM41 mil within eight months of its commencement in November 2020 which according to the company was “ahead of its initial target”.
Hartalega said the reimbursement was made to current workers who joined the group prior to the implementation of its zero-recruitment cost policy on April 1, 2019 and had previously paid recruitment fees to employment agents during the recruitment process.
On Oct 6 last year, Top Glove Corp Bhd announced that it will pay RM136 mil over the next 10 months to compensate its migrant workers as part of its efforts to resolve the CBP import ban over forced labour claims. – June 11, 2021
