SUPERMAX Corp Bhd whose products face import ban by the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on Oct 21 last year over alleged forced labour practices has turned over a new leaf.
In line with its Zero Cost Recruitment Policy, the glove maker has recently rolled out a comprehensive Foreign Worker Management Policy to strengthen its human resources management and migrant workers policies and practices.
As part of this new policy implementation, Supermax has now expanded the remediation scope to include former direct hire and contract workers who have left the company before Oct 1, 2019.
These revised eligibility criteria for remediation came about after the company sought views and advice from a reputable international consulting firm as well as through ongoing engagement and dialogue with migrant worker rights specialist Andy Hall.
Moreover, Supermax has also engaged an international consulting firm to assess and advise the glove maker on the pay-out to all its current and former workers as well as to track and locate those workers who had returned to their home countries.
“Supermax is committed to ensure all former workers receive their remediation payment including those in the expanded scope,” the company pointed out in a media release.
“In an effort to ensure that all entitled former workers receive their remediation payments, notices will be published in the newspapers of the respective foreign worker origin countries with outreach activities conducted over a six-month window period from February 2022 until July 2022 to reach out to as many former workers as possible.”
Supermax said it will also set up a sinking fund to ensure that it remediates these former workers and all other eligible workers according to the revised eligibility criteria for remediation.
The sinking fund shall be reviewed accordingly upon depletion and shall be governed by an advisory committee consisting of management, consultants and Hall in his capacity as an independent migrant worker rights expert.
Above all else, the company has also implemented a one-off RM5,000 ex-gratia payment to all its workers and shall add a further element of interest on the amount of past recruitment related fees and costs paid by workers.
“We are pleased to announce the completion of these payments to our current active workers on Feb 7 February (yesterday),” noted the company. “Former workers will also be receiving the same pay-out starting February 2022 until July 2022.”
To date, Supermax has paid out a total of RM25.67 mil in remediation covering past recruitment fees, ex-gratia and other related costs to its workers.
Supermax is continuously making efforts to elevate its human resource practices to be more aligned with International Labour Organization (ILO) standards. Towards this end, it has implemented a Zero Cost Recruitment Policy and adopted an equal pay and benefit structure for foreign workers in Malaysia.
Additionally, it has also proactively raised its minimum wage to RM1,400 for workers across all categories. The process of implementation of the policies are currently progressing in stages and in accordance to guidelines of COVID-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs).
At the close of today’s mid-day trading, Supermax was down 3 sen or 2.31% to RM1.27 with 9.7 million shares traded, thus valuing the company at RM3.45 bil. – Feb 8, 2022
