Over the weekend (9th December), an exposé on Malaysian glove developers, Top Glove Corp Bhd and WRP were brought to public attention after it was discovered that they have allegedly been forcing migrant factory workers into labour, withholding wages, debt bondage, and even passport confiscation.
The Guardian interviewed 16 workers from Top Glove (eight from Nepal, eight from Bangladesh) and three from WRP. The Top Glove factory workers reportedly described their working environment as “mental torture”.
Source: The Guardian
According to the workers, employees at Top Glove have to work at least 12 hours a day, 7 days a week and were only allowed one day off a month. On top of that, working conditions are also reportedly unsafe, as a number of accidents causing employees to lose their limbs have also allegedly occurred.
Both Top Glove and WRP workers also told the news portal that their passports were involuntarily confiscated by their employers, as they cannot retrieve their passports even on request. Withholding an employee’s passport is against the law, as it can often lead to worker exploitation.
On top of that, Top Glove has also released a statement addressing their working conditions, and even acknowledged the long working hours their employees were being subjected to. However, they denied that workers’ rights were being violated. An excerpt from Top Glove’s statement reads,
“Lengthy working hours are our main concern and we continue to explore every possible way to address the issue of our workers’ excessive daily OT (overtime). We assure you that the allegations are entirely unfounded and such allegations tarnish our good name.”
“Top Glove adopts a zero-tolerance policy with any regard to the abuse of human’s rights at all levels. In fact our human/labour rights and health initiatives exceed those of the glove industry average.”
Source: The Star
Meanwhile, WRP workers claimed that they were not allowed to leave the factory except on Sundays. The three workers were interviewed by The Guardian through the factory’s fence. On top of that, they added that their salaries have also allegedly been withheld for as long as three months. Another employee from this company added that thousands of workers have not received their pay in months.
WRP has also denied these allegations, with its chief executive, Lee Son Hong, calling them baseless. He told the daily,
“We are appalled that the issue of withholding pay and payment is made once every three months is brought up as we pay monthly wages according to the Malaysian Employment Act.”
He added that WRP also did not withhold passports from their employees, and that workers instead want their employer to keep their passports for safekeeping in accessible lockers.
Top Glove also stated they only keep workers passports for safekeeping and that this is even stipulated in a consent form employees have to sign.
Source: YouTube
According to their payslips, many of these workers appear to clock 120 to 160 hours of overtime every month. Their basic salaries also indicate that workers were getting only RM1,000 a month, and only received double overtime pay when they work 12 hours a day on Sundays.
In light of this shocking exposé, the United Kingdom will now be investigating Top Glove, as they produce and supply gloves to the country’s National Health Service (NHS).
Meanwhile, according to the Malay Mail, Human Resources Minister M. Kulasegaran, stated that major companies in Malaysia should ensure that workers’ rights are not abused.
Since news of this alleged abuse of workers’ rights came to light, Top Glove’s shares fell significantly on Monday morning (10th December), falling 5.93%, or 33 sen to RM5.57 with over 1.2 million shares done.
Read The Guardian’s full report here.
Also read: Man Sneaks into iPhone Manufacturing Factory in China, Discovers Brutal Truth
